Goldman Sachs and Google Back Blockchain Payment Startup

Respected Serial Entrepreneur, Marwan Forzely made a daring move when he sold his former company eBillme to Western Union, which helped the company connect directly to customers’ bank account with ease. He has gone a step further by raising $25 million to remove the need for intermediary banks in the process of money transfer.

Initially known as Align Commerce, Veem employs three methods in making money transfers namely Treasury, SWIFT, and blockchain.

Treasury is used for the movement of funds between bank accounts within the control of Veem. SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is the conventional system used by banks in facilitating international payments which take days to finalize. Blockchain transactions are usually the most flexible as they occur over a digital ledger in a split of seconds.

Veem breaks the barrier of jurisdictions in different countries and creates a link between the client’s bank account and customers using bitcoin. Neither the party needs to have bitcoin in their possession, as an algorithm helps in routing transactions along the most secured payment rails with reliance on cryptocurrency.

Many companies are beginning to leverage the enterprise-payment startup Veem in the bid to accelerate their firm’s exponential growth. Some of them include Silicon Valley Bank, Goldman Sachs with GV (formally known as Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins, Pantera Capital, and Trend Forward.

Veem’s built-in stickiness model has been one of the features which companies find attractive. It has a way of turning recipients of Veem payments turn into subscribers. Veem’s exploitation of bitcoin at a time like this is regarded as a trailblazer that could help pave way next-generation bitcoin startups.

The company’s exponential growth has been buoyed by the huge amount of investment currently put at $69.3 million. The blockchain payment solution, whose customer base has increased significantly by a massive 13,000% over the last three years, is now focusing on building out new partner integrations to improve services rendered to users.

Lead investor Goldman Sachs invested in the payment startup through its Principal Strategic Investment Group, which has been quite active in the blockchain space. As part of the terms of the investment, Goldman Sachs managing director Rana Yared will join Veem’s board as a non-voting board member.

Google Ventures general partner, Karim Faris, who also sits on Veem’s board of directors, remains upbeat about the chances of Veem becoming the first bitcoin startup to go public.
“We’re not a strategic investor,” Faris noted. “It’s definitely not a strategic thing. It’s an opportunity to create a stand-alone company and in the process make a financial return on a good exit or an IPO down the line.”

As part of efforts to fast-track the transfer and receipt of international payments, Veem announced the launch of its API late last year. The breakthrough complemented the multi-rail technology and the expansion of Veem that was operative in 60 countries.

Speaking on the comparative advantage which Veem has to offer, Forzely had explained:
“We’re all accustomed to experiences where payment and commerce easily work together. Veem is bringing that integrated experience to businesses with our API.”