Cross-border payments start-up Keeta launches with $17m funding
Keeta, a new cross-border payments platform, has officially opened its doors for business with $17 million in funding from investors, including ex-CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt.
The Keeta team
“Powered by a highly scalable proprietary ledger technology, capable of processing more than 50 million transactions per second, and a network of interconnected real-time payment rails, Keeta’s platform dramatically reduces the time and fees typically associated with international money transfers,” the start-up claims.
“Whereas current cross-border payments can cost upwards of 5% of the amount transferred and take nearly a week to process, Keeta empowers customers to send these payments instantly at a fraction of the price.”
The paytech promises cross-border transactions for 50-70% less than the cost of traditional options.
Ty Schenk, CEO and founder of Keeta, says the company aims to make international payments “as easy as Venmo” (Venmo is a popular US mobile payment service owned by PayPal).
Investor Schmidt says the start-up’s technology “is orders of magnitude more scalable and efficient than existing solutions”.
Keeta targets financial institutions and fintechs with its offering, but it is also launching a consumer-facing app for instant transfers between friends and family worldwide.
The company is based in California, US. It is initially available by invitation in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, and the European Union (EU).
