KAST secures US$10 million seed round
Cayman Islands, 11 December 2024 – KAST, a financial-technology platform built on stablecoins to deliver a neobank-style experience, has raised US$10 million in seed funding. The round is led by HSG (HongShan Capital Group) and Peak XV Partners. A number of high-profile angels, partners of DST Global, and Goodwater Capital also joined the round.
“For most countries and over half of global GDP, banking does not match the openness and speed of the Internet, it’s fundamentally broken. Stablecoins are the clear solution, but the user experience wasn’t great. We are building KAST to change this”, said Raagulan Pathy, co-founder of KAST. Pathy was formerly VP for Asia Pacific & CEO for Singapore at Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin.
KAST offers payment-cards and USD-denominated accounts to people in over 150 countries, the ability to receive and send cash, working with partners such as Bridge. The company will soon launch savings and other remittance products — all without the need to touch fiat directly. The maturing of stablecoin regulation and acceptance has led to rapid integration with traditional finance networks, enabling users to send money faster, cheaper, and more securely. KAST highlighted use cases such as holding USD stablecoins as an alternative to volatile currencies, enabling people to buy imports and travel with a card, and allowing remote workers globally to get paid.
“The next generation of neobanks will be built on stablecoins and inherently global by DNA. They will differ fundamentally from the current generation of neobanks, which are limited in countries due to licensing, and struggle in integrating blockchain; their core systems and capabilities are just too different,” commented Daniel Bertoli, co-founder of KAST and former Partner at Quona Capital, a global fintech fund that focuses on investments in neobanks.
KAST closed a US$10 million seed round at a significant undisclosed valuation. The founders stated user growth and revenue in the first four months have been “beyond even the highest expectation, showing the near-unlimited pent-up demand globally.
Stablecoins have experienced remarkable growth with over US$170 billion in supply, and US$8.5 trillion transaction volume in Q2 2024 by over 125 million users. Analysts predict by 2030; user numbers will exceed 1 billion and supply will surpass US$1 trillion.
“KAST delivers real benefits to global users. Their USD-denominated accounts provide a safe haven for hard-earned income when local currencies decline, especially for those without access to traditional US accounts. As more digital nomads receive salaries in stablecoins, they can now bypass the hassle of legacy rails. International transfers that once took weeks can now be completed instantly and at virtually no cost,” said Alex Svanevik, CEO and co-founder of Nansen.ai, an early investor in KAST.
