Former Penta co-founder launches crypto API startup with €2.8 million backing

Jessica Holzbach has launched a new startup, called Pile, in the crypto API field. 
Former Penta co-founder launches crypto API startup with €2.8 million backing

Jessica Holzbach, the co-founder of Germany’s Penta business bank, has gone live with a new venture in cryptocurrency API. 

Pile is a crypto-as-a service platform that will help fintechs and neobanks to integrate crypto offerings such as wallets or trading into their offerings. Pile promises to take the complexity out of the process, with APIs that can be integrated in "under one hour." The goal is to make it easier and smoother for fintechs to diversify their own products, lower acquisition costs, and boost customer loyalty. 

“Once a Pile account is created, your customers can deposit EUR into their wallet. We convert them into stablecoins and plug them into DeFi,” Pile says. “They will be able to see their money grow by generating yield (interest) and withdraw at any time with no lockups.”

According to Business Insider, Pile has raised €2.8 million in a pre-seed round led by Anthemis’ Female Innovators lab and Barclays. Other investors include Maximilian Tayenthal the co-CEO of Berlin’s N26 neobank, Christian Reber from Pitch, Auxxo, Tier CPO Georgie Smallwood, Movinx CEO Carolin Gabor — and former Germany football player Mario Götze.

Holzbach, who co-founded Penta in 2017, left in April last year. She is bringing two colleagues from Penta with her to the new startup, Jeannine Klein and Benedetta Ludovisi. Balazs Deme, a crypto expert, completes the startup leadership. 

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