Fintech startup Caliza has officially launched in Brazil. The firm enables FinTech companies and banks to integrate its API and provide clients with the capability to conduct transactions and save in U.S. dollars,
The company also revealed a $5.3 million seed funding round, led by Abstract Ventures and Tomorrow Ventures, with participation from Fontes by Valor Capital Group, Quona Capital, QED, and other substantial investors.
Caliza Is Poised To Accelerate Cross-Border Payments
With Caliza, FinTech companies and banks can facilitate real-time cross-border payments, offer digital dollar account payments, and set fait-to-crypto off and on ramps through its platform. This enables clients to send and receive funds in U.S. dollars, build wealth, and perform current exchange instantaneously.
Business owners and consumers frequently need help engaging with the global economy in the current marketplace. Therefore, establishing a U.S. dollar account outside the U.S. is complex or expensive for financial institutions to offer a widely accessible service to small businesses or individuals.
Local banks usually provide U.S. dollar accounts for private wealth customers or multinational corporations who meet certain deposit thresholds. As a result, individuals and Brazilian companies are excluded from these worldwide products.
They incur additional costs for accessing international services and merchants ranging from Amazon Web Services to Apple and Walmart. However, Caliza aims to transform this situation by pioneering an infrastructure for banking, compliance, and payment options via USD Coin.
Caliza To Develop More Products
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Caliza, Ezra Kebrab, emphasized that while national payment systems are rapidly progressing, there remains a large void in cross-border banking and payments. This comes with Central Banks introducing real-time payment features such as UPI (India), SPEI (Mexico), and Pix (Brazil).
Furthermore, Kebrab’s inspiration to establish Caliza comes from his tenure at Visa. There, he led the firm’s accelerator initiative aimed at aiding FinTech companies in introducing worldwide payment solutions.
Throughout his tenure at Visa, Kebrab revealed the challenges companies face while seeking to break into international markets. The situations are prevalent due to the need for access to global accounts linked to the world’s reserve currency.
The firm currently presents its services in Brazil and intends to extend its presence to Mexico in the upcoming year. Caliza also has a strategic plan to include other Southeast Asia and African countries in its roadmap.
The recent fund will also be allocated towards team growth to develop additional finances for its clients and customers.