Crypto startup MoonPay lands $555M in funding as VCs pour billions into cryptocurrency space; now valued at $3.4 billion

MoonPay, a payment infrastructure provider for crypto companies, has raised $555 million in its first-ever financing round led by Coatue and Tiger Global. MoonPay said it will use the new capital infusion to expand its geographic reach, hire more staff, and add more payment methods. The all-equity Series A round values MoonPay at $3.4 billion, making the fintech startup a member of the unicorn club.

Founded in 2018 by Ivan Soto-Wright and Victor Faramond, the Miami-based MoonPay enables users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using conventional payment methods like credit cards, bank transfers, or mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

In a statement, MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright said, “There are companies that can help us move faster in certain geographies or help improve certain components of the infrastructure stack. We want to bring a billion people into the crypto economy by 2030. We can do that faster by partnering with other companies.”

Soto-Wright said the firm aims to make crypto accessible to the masses in the same way that video-conferencing tools like Zoom made it easier to make calls over the internet.

NFT Ambitions

In addition to providing payment infrastructure for crypto companies, MoonPay also sells its technology to other businesses including crypto website Bitcoin.com and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea, a model CEO Ivan Soto-Wright calls “crypto-as-a-service.” MoonPay is working to streamline the checkout process on NFT marketplaces. The startup is currently conducting beta tests with several partners, including OpenSea, Binance, and Dapper Labs.

In a statement, Soto-Wright said, “The next stage of where we’re going is really trying to focus on a new emerging movement around NFTs, which we think are going to be a very big area where more and more people will be onboarded into the crypto economy.”

Soto-Wright said the company’s mission is to make crypto accessible to the masses in the same way that video-conferencing tools like Zoom made it easier to make calls over the internet.