Google, Goldman Back X-Border Payments Firm Veem

The venture capital (VC) arms of Google and Goldman Sachs participated in the latest investment round for cross-border payments company Veem, Forbes said Wednesday (Sept. 26).

GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, and Goldman Sachs led the funding for Veem, though the company declined to release details on how much it raised. Investors Kleiner Perkins, Silicon Valley Bank, Trend Forward Capital and Pantera Capital also participated, reports said.

“What’s important about this round is the acknowledgement of the size of the opportunity, the size of the market, the size of the pain point that we’re solving for,” said the company’s Founder Marwan Forzley in an interview with the publication. “And its an endorsement of the growth that we’re experiencing.”

Reports said the company now services more than 80,000 customers. When it raised its first round of funding in 2014, the company had a mere 590 users.

Veem uses bitcoin to facilitate cross-border payments for consumers and businesses, using proprietary technology to automatically route a transaction through the most efficient rails. According to reports, most of the transactions facilitated by Veem use the cryptocurrency to replace a correspondent model that moves funds from point A to point B.

The company secured $24 million in Series B funding in March of last year. In total, the company has raised $69.3 million, reports said, adding that this latest investment will be used to accelerate the startup’s growth.

Speaking with the publication, GV General Partner Karim Faris said Veem could see an initial public offering (IPO) in its future, which would make it the first in the bitcoin industry to float.

“We’re not a strategic investor,” Faris said. “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.”

Forzley did not comment on whether he expects or plans for Veem to go public, reports noted.