Arf raises $13m from investors including Circle Ventures, Hard Yaka, and SDF

ZUG, Switzerland, Oct. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The VQF-regulated global settlement banking platform using Web3 technologies has raised $13m in a seed round with the participation of industry leaders including Circle Ventures, Hard Yaka, United Overseas Bank Venture Management, Signum Capital, and Stellar Development Foundation.

Arf Co-founders: Kazım Rıfat Özyılmaz, Ali Erhat Nalbant, Ahmet Özcan, Berhan Kongel

Arf has raised $13 million in equity and debt financing in a seed round from notable investors across Web3 and institutional finance space, including the investors of Coinbase, Solana, FTX, and Kabbage.

Circle Ventures joined the round alongside the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), United Overseas Bank (UOB) Venture Management, Signum Capital, Hard Yaka, NGC Ventures, Blockchain Founders Fund, and 500 Emerging Europe.

The firm intends to use the cash injection to further develop its blockchain-based technology to provide global treasury management and working capital credit lines for financial institutions and licensed money service businesses alike operating in the cross-border payments industry.

"We are delighted to see prominent Web3 and institutional finance investors validate our vision and join forces with us," said CEO Ali Erhat Nalbant.

"Arf's technology sits right at the center of cross-border payments evolution. This funding round will help us scale Arf to free up trillion dollars worth of locked working capital in the industry," he added. "We'll keep leveraging digital assets and Web3 technologies to fuel the transformation in global finance in a fully compliant way."

With the seed funding, the firm will develop and foster new paradigm-shifting technologies in cross-border payments by combining the best of what Web3 and traditional finance has to offer.

Arf recently received the approval of the Financial Services Standard Association (VQF). The firm opened a new office in Zug and started scaling its team.

Arf also announced the launch of Arf Credit Line in April, which provides money service businesses instant access to transactional working capital credit lines, and allows any corridor to be post-funded in real-time.

About Arf
Arf is a global settlement banking platform, eliminating the capital-intensive business model of the cross-border payments industry by offering digital asset-based working capital and settlement services with native on-ramp and off-ramp capabilities to licensed money service businesses and financial institutions.