Crypto infrastructure start-up Ramp raises $52.7m in Series A round

Crypto payments infrastructure provider Ramp has raised $52.7 million in a Series A round led by London-based venture capital firm Balderton Capital.

Ramp founders Przemek Kowalczyk and Szymon Sypniewicz

Existing investors NFX, Galaxy Digital, Seedcamp and Firstminute Capital also participated, alongside angel investors Taavet Hinrikus (Wise) and Francesco Simonesci (TrueLayer).

Ramp offers a non-custodial payments infrastructure that helps exchanges, marketplaces and wallets integrate a global crypto onramp, making it easier for users to buy crypto and other digital assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The start-up’s suite of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Software Development Kits (SDKs) make it possible to send and receive crypto without having to use an exchange.

Ramp claims to partner with more than 400 developers, including web browsers, crypto and DeFi apps and online games.

Ramp was founded in Warsaw in 2017 by Przemek Kowalczyk and Szymon Sypniewicz. The company is registered as a cryptoasset business by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Ramp Link is supervised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for open banking activities.

The firm has also recently received regulatory approval from US FinCen — the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — which means it can operate legally in the United States.

In a blog post on the company’s website, Sypniewicz says the funds will be used to drive expansion and further product development.

He adds in the last year the start-up has grown its transaction volume 30x while its headcount has tripled in the six months since its seed round in June.