Balderton Capital and Animoca Brands back Request Finance with $5.5 million to streamline crypto payments

Paris-based Web3 enterprise crypto payments startup Request Finance has raised $5.5 million in funding. The seed round was backed by institutional backers, including metaverse company Animoca Brands, early-stage venture capital investor Balderton Capital, and XAnge. The company’s seed round also attracted a star-studded lineup of Web3 founders, including Sebastien Borget, co-founder and COO at The Sandbox, Michael Kong, CEO of Fantom, Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave, and Julien Bouteloup, founder of StakeDAO.

The new capital injection is expected to support the company’s efforts to expand its in-app services to include invoice financing, escrow, and even yield-farming. These features are aimed at helping enterprises better manage their crypto-financial operations.

Founded in 2021, Request Finance simplifies and automates invoicing, expenses, payroll, and accounting in crypto for more than 1,900 Web3 teams.

With an ever-growing number of opportunities in powering payments for the open metaverse and Web3, the demand for such startups is expected to grow. According to the company, over $200 million in crypto invoices have been paid through its platform. By addressing common pain points with enterprise crypto payments like financial reporting and regulatory compliance, it has attracted users from different Web3 verticals. This includes DeFi companies like Aave, metaverse and NFT-related projects like The Sandbox, and DAOs like Maker. 

Christophe Lassuyt, CEO and co-founder of Request Finance said: “Compliance-friendly companies choose Request Finance to document their crypto transactions, and love the experience.”

Yat Siu, executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, added: “Request Finance allows Web3 projects - including some Animoca Brands companies - to save time and effort on crypto payments. We believe the company has a significant potential for growth and expansion.”

Maxime Le Dantec, principal at Balderton Capital, concluded: "The popularity of cryptocurrencies poses serious challenges to CFOs and their teams. Bank accounts are increasingly replaced by wallets, financial institutions now compete with decentralised lending protocols, and legacy payment networks are being replaced by blockchains. The traditional enterprise finance software stack made of tools like Melio payments or Bill.com is less relevant than a crypto-native tool like Request Finance."