Singapore-based crypto funding platform Pillow raised $18 million in Collection-A funding on Oct. 13.
The funding spherical was co-led by Accel, Quona capital, Elevation Capital, and Soar Capital. Accel is the high enterprise capital agency with essentially the most Unicorn possession, and Elevation Capital was a major investor in Pillow throughout its seed spherical.
Pillow permits customers to take a position and save in USD-backed stablecoins and varied well-liked crypto belongings like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
The platform was launched in 2021 and already has over 75,000 customers residing in 60 completely different international locations. Because the starting of the yr, Pillow’s consumer base has grown by 300%, whereas its supported belongings have grown 5x.
Specializing in rising markets
Pillow goals at empowering people residing in rising economies who might not have entry to monetary companies. Pillow’s CEO, Arinda Roy, mentioned:
“At Pillow, we aspire to create and reward a tradition of disciplined private finance…that allow younger, hardworking, formidable folks to take management of their funds, obtain life objectives and work in the direction of monetary freedom.”
He additional added:
“We’re creating a set of high-quality, safe, and clear monetary merchandise that may grant our customers entry to world financial alternatives and allow them to take management of their monetary future.”
The platform can be eager on eradicating friction and providing a easy consumer expertise, which serves its final goal of accelerating monetary inclusion. By eradicating frictions of formal financial methods, Pillow believes it could actually have interaction higher with customers and encourage them to take management of their funds by providing financial savings and funding alternatives.
Pillow expanded into varied rising markets up to now yr, together with Nigeria, Ghana, and Vietnam.
Rising markets and crypto
Rising economies have been the drivers of crypto adoption over the previous years.
In 2021, Chainalysis reviews confirmed an 880% surge in world crypto adoption. Rising economies like Kenya, Nigeria, Vietnam, and Venezuela ranked excessive within the adoption index, whereas international locations like China and the U.S. had been thirteenth and eighth, respectively.
The 2022 replace of the identical report revealed that the international locations with the very best adoption charges didn’t change a lot over the previous yr. Vietnam, the Philippines, and Ukraine got here because the top-three nations with essentially the most elevated adoption, adopted by India, Pakistan, and Thailand, rating throughout the high ten.
One other research from Could 2022 additionally revealed that rising economies’ attitudes in the direction of the metaverse had been additionally bullish and adaptive.
The hyperlink between rising markets and excessive crypto adoption is excessive inflation. Since crypto is a direct different to fiat cash, it is usually seen as a hedge in opposition to inflation, which drives its reputation amongst high-inflation areas.
In keeping with numbers from April 2022, rising economies like Venezuela, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Colombia, which have excessive inflation, additionally recorded excessive crypto adoption charges.
