CDIB leads round for Taiwan crypto-fiat start-up
CDIB Capital Group has led a $17 million pre-Series A round for Xrex, a Taiwan-based financial technology player that uses blockchain to facilitate cross-border payments by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Additional commitments came from four venture capital firms based in North America and Europe – Global Founders Capital, Seraph Group, ThreeD Capital, and Metaplanet Holdings – as well as Japan’s SBI Investment and local investors E.Sun Venture Capital, Systex Corporation, AppWorks, Black Marble, and New Economy Ventures, and. The round was oversubscribed by 200%.
AppWorks led the company’s $7 million seed round in 2019, followed by Toivo Annus, the Skype co-founder who passed away last year, Metaplanet, Black Marble, CDIB, WI Harper, BitoEx, and the Taiwan government-backed National Development Fund.
Founded in 2018, Xrex describes itself as a crypto-fiat fintech company that drives financial inclusion by solving liquidity shortages in emerging economies. It has developed a software suite focused on digital asset transfers, banking, and trading. The company claims to offer one of the safest platforms of its kind globally, having repelled fraud rings from Russia and Nigeria in recent months.
Xrex works with local regulators and financial institutions to smooth the transition from informal to formal economy. Its key offerings include BitCheck, a cryptocurrency escrow service that promises zero counterparty risk, and MyXchange, a digital currency exchange-as-a-service platform. It
MyXchange is the crypto equivalent of e-commerce enabler Shopify. It provides the infrastructure – know-your-customer and anti-money laundering protocols, liquidity, wallet security, fiat on-off ramps in US dollars and rupee – for money transfer organizations to run secure crypto-fiat exchanges.
The new funding will go toward expanding the company’s fiat currency portfolio, acquiring additional licenses, and establishing partnerships with more financial institutions and digital wallets.
“Our mission is to foster global financial inclusion by leveraging blockchain,” said Wayne Huang, CEO and co-founder of Xrex, in a statement. “Many of our team members are from or have lived in the markets where we serve. We keenly understand the struggles faced by many cross-border merchants who lack safe access to US dollar liquidity.”
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