The round was co-led by Flourish Ventures and 1kx, with backing from White Star Capital and Fabric Ventures. With this, the company’s total funding now stands at $9.2 million.

Kulipa builds payment infrastructure that allows fintech companies to issue cards funded directly from stablecoin balances. These cards can be used anywhere card networks are accepted, including for everyday purchases and ATM withdrawals.

Stablecoins already handle more than $300 billion in daily settlements, but their use in everyday payments is still limited. The systems that connect blockchain-based transactions to traditional card networks are still fragmented and usually require large upfront capital.

Kulipa says its platform removes some of these limitations. It verifies balances and settles transactions onchain, reducing the need for prefunding.

At the same time, it takes on fraud liability for issued cards, which lowers operational pressure for its partners.

“Stablecoins have proven their value as a settlement layer, but using them in everyday financial products is still early,” said Axel Cateland, Founder and CEO of Kulipa.

“Card issuance is the bridge between onchain balances and real-world payments. We built Kulipa to give regulated fintech platforms the compliant, capital-efficient infrastructure they need to operate at global scale.”

The company operates what it describes as a local-first model, with regulatory coverage across the European Union, Argentina and Nigeria. It is also working on expansion into the United States through BIN sponsorship.

Kulipa launched its infrastructure in February 2025 and since then, it has issued more than 120,000 cards and signed 20 customers. These include Flutterwave, Solflare, nSave and Ready.

The company also reports a 70% month-on-month increase in transaction volume.

“At Flutterwave, we’re focused on building payment infrastructure that works across markets at scale. As stablecoins become a more practical settlement option, it’s important that businesses can turn those balances into real-world spending,” said Olugbenga Agboola, Founder & CEO of Flutterwave.

“Partnering with Kulipa allows us to extend stablecoin value into globally accepted payments in a compliant, scalable way.”

“Kulipa has enabled Ready to become an onchain alternative to banks,” said Itamar Lesuisse, CEO of Ready. “With their infrastructure, we can issue globally accepted cards directly from stablecoin balances, giving our users seamless access to everyday spending in a compliant and scalable way.”

Kulipa was founded in 2023 by a team with experience across payments, compliance and technology. Cateland previously worked on Apple Pay and Google Pay deployments at Mastercard.

Co-founder and CTO Michael Shynar has worked at WhatsApp and Google, while Head of Compliance Benoit Roger brings experience from Binance and Nickel Bank.

Investors say the company is addressing a key gap in the market.

“We’re seeing stablecoins moving beyond cross-border settlement and becoming part of real financial infrastructure,” said Ameya Upadhyay, General Partner, Flourish Ventures.

“The missing piece has been compliant, scalable card issuance. Kulipa fills that gap by combining capital efficiency with multi-region regulatory coverage, enabling fintech platforms to bring stablecoin settlement into everyday payments.”

1kx Founding Partner Christopher Heymann added, “Stablecoins are reshaping how money moves globally, but for mainstream adoption, people need to spend them as easily as they spend fiat. 

“Kulipa meets users where they already are, starting with the card in their wallet, and gives businesses a turnkey way to offer that experience. We believe this payments layer is critical infrastructure for the next phase of crypto adoption.”

Kulipa says it will use the new funding to strengthen its infrastructure and support more fintech platforms looking to offer stablecoin-based payments at scale.

The company is a Mastercard principal member, with strategic European licenses, such as e-Money and VASP.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve with the coming MiCA regulation, xMoney Global intends to lead Europe into this new transformative EU-regulated stablecoin era. 

Greg Siourounis will lead the integration of xMoney’s advanced blockchain-enabled payments infrastructure with its upcoming stablecoin program.

Stablecoins are a key driver of blockchain adoption in today’s market, now surpassing Bitcoin, remittances, and PayPal in annual transaction volume. 

As such, xMoney’s Global reputation positions it to bridge Web3 innovation with traditional finance, leading Europe into a new transformative EU-regulated stablecoin era.

Dr Greg, who has played a pioneering role in the growth of Sui Foundation as its former Managing Director and who previously founded Everypay, will drive xMoney Global’s next wave of growth. 

Beyond the standard reference of his academic work in 2024’s Nobel Prize in Economics, Dr Greg’s career is also decorated with awards such as the 2005 Young Economist Award from The European Economic Association and the 2008 Austin Robinson Prize from The Royal Economic Society. 

His immediate target will be to focus on partnerships, regulatory alignment and market expansion, as xMoney Global looks to build a comprehensive payments platform that bridges legacy financial systems with the potential of decentralized finance.

Commenting on his appointment, Dr Greg Siourounis, CEO of xMoney Global, said, “As Europe prepares to embrace MiCA regulation, xMoney Global is positioned to redefine what compliant, secure, and seamless digital payments can be. 

“Our goal is to deliver a solid and trusted ecosystem that combines the strengths of traditional finance with the flexibility of blockchain technology to create a future-ready payment experience.”

Beniamin Mincu, Co-founder of MultiversX, said, “xMoney Global’s mission aligns perfectly with the vision of MultiversX to bring scalable and secure blockchain solutions to mainstream finance. This appointment marks a significant step toward building a more inclusive and resilient financial system.”

The launch of xMoney Global aims to offer a next-gen blockchain-as-a-service module backed by its native stablecoin, with key white-labelled services including acquiring, issuing, onramps/offramps and a sticky loyalty program, all backed by MultiversX’s state-of-the-art sharding technology. 

Following the surge in crypto markets after Trump’s pro-crypto Presidential win, xMoney will be ideally placed to accelerate real-world adoption as the easiest way for everyone (consumers, retail and e-commerce) to seamlessly access fiat and cryptocurrencies in an app, card or payment gateway.

Fuse embarks on an ambitious journey to create an innovative Ethereum-based Zero Knowledge (ZK) Layer-2 (L2) network, utilizing the formidable capabilities of the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK).

The ZK-powered Layer-2 network will become Fuse’s new native platform, providing users and developers access to the world’s most prominent blockchain ecosystems. Fuse’s native utility token, FUSE, will be the designated token for covering gas fees on this network.

Driven by its scalability enhancements for Ethereum, unparalleled customization capabilities, privacy options, compliance-friendly architecture, and robust support for the Web3 ecosystem, Polygon CDK is the ideal choice for Fuse, poised to become a significant catalyst for businesses embracing blockchain.

Mark Smargon, CEO of Fuse Network, underscores the significance of this initiative, stating,

“At Fuse, we’re pioneering the future of Web3 payments by building an ecosystem that prioritizes the needs of our users and partners. Our vision includes very low transaction costs, instant clearing and finality, high throughput, and a decentralized validator set. In our quest to achieve these goals, we’ve conducted extensive research and found that using Polygon CDK perfectly fits our ecosystem.”

Migration Process to Polygon CDK:

• Step 1: Deployment of the ZK rollup on Fuse’s existing L1, allowing testing of the new stack with a mock prover to assess costs and performance.
• Step 2: Integration of L1 <> L2 communication into Fuse’s products, ensuring seamless integration and movement between L1 and L2, along with Fuse tokenomics integration into the rollup. This step will also encompass building separate pricing for services on L2 as a bundle and bridging and liquidity integration across the Polygon ecosystem.
• Step 3: Migration of the network to ZK Validium with a chosen partner (Zeeve, Gateway, Avail, etc.), migration of the validator set to the new stack, and collaboration with leading stakeholders to test the new network on a testnet. Subsequently, a quick migration option for liquidity and bridges was developed.

Looking ahead, with features like zkEVM to boost network TPS, enhanced user experiences through ZK instant transfers, a decentralized validator set for heightened security, improved bridging capabilities, and valuable partnerships with ecosystem players like Zeave and Gateway.

Privacy is key in today’s digital landscape, and it’s no different for businesses operating on Fuse. With this migration to Polygon CDK, Fuse is set to enhance its offerings, making it the ultimate Web3 payment solution for businesses.

Polygon CDK:

Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK) catalyzes blockchain innovation, empowering developers to create custom Ethereum Layer-2 (L2) solutions.

It ensures instant transaction finality, limitless scalability, and unified liquidity pools. Polygon CDK is at the forefront of blockchain adoption, offering Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology, privacy options such as Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), and robust support for the Web3 ecosystem.

Most significantly, Polygon CDK empowers businesses to embrace blockchain and crypto payments for Fuse Network.

A prime example is Wirex, a global crypto payments leader with 6 million users, which harnesses Polygon CDK for its App Chain (W-Pay).

With this development, Fuse Network aims to revolutionize Web3 payments, offering scalability, customization, privacy, and robust Web3 support.

Moreover, this promises to bring low transaction costs, instant finality, high throughput, and decentralized security to blockchain payments.