New Street Technologies Blockchain technology startup has bagged $4 million funding in a follow-on round. The round saw participation from a group of private investors led by Vittal Kadapakkam in the US, prominent Indian bankers, and existing investors including Unitus Ventures and Mohit Davar, Chairman of International Association of Money Transfer Network.
The total fund-raise to date by New Street is $5.5 million. With operations in India, UAE and parts of Asia, New Street now plans to enter the US, Europe, and Africa.
Commenting on the fundraise, Sajeev Viswanathan, Founder & CEO, New Street said, “Blockchain is to ‘processing’ what the internet is to information. New Street has leveraged blockchain’s unique ability to democratize transaction processing and has already demonstrated its transformational impact in the BFSI sector. Our investors understand the exponential opportunity that our model has globally, and hence this investment in us. The capital raised provides for accelerated product development and access to the larger global markets”.
Emphasising on the unique product that they have developed and its use cases, Sajeev adds, “New Street’s flagship blockchain based middleware – MiFiX, is amongst the world’s first commercially successful blockchain ecosystems for the BFSI sector. A single MiFiX node in a bank can revolutionize processes and foster innovation across products including, trade finance, digital lending, cash management, remittances etc. In microfinance processing for example, MiFiX has improved operating efficiency by over 500%, across the value chain – from bank to business correspondent to end borrower, without any significant capital expenditure to our clients.
In another use case, New Street deployed Finance Against Remittances (FAR), an innovation that helped our bank client gain a significant share of the country’s foreign inward remittances by leveraging their own balance sheet – a product which was not possible without MiFiX. Some of the most influential world bodies in the cross-border migrant remittances sector recognize FAR as an innovation and are working with New Street to deploy it in remittance corridors across the globe”
Mohit Davar, Co-founder & Non-executive Director, New Street, said, “There is no doubt that blockchain is the way forward for the BFSI sector world-over. New Street has made it easy for financial institutions, new and historic alike, to weave the technology seamlessly into their business models and benefit from its versatility, instantaneously. My participation in this round is testimony to the massive global opportunity that exists for the company and my faith in the team to make it happen”.
Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, Partner at Unitus Ventures said, “The opportunity roadmap is vast. We believe that blockchain technology in banking is like the internet boom in the 90s. This technology explosion will transform the functioning of banks, especially with initiatives undertaken by the RBI, now several private and public banks are adopting the benefits of blockchain technology. We have also seen how blockchain technology has contributed to the ease of doing business by simplifying lending to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). We are happy to be the early backers in this massive transition that New Street leads.”
Vittal Kadapakkam, an active investor in the blockchain space said, “New Street’s interpretation of blockchain and their go-to-market strategy are unique. The efficiencies they have created and the innovation opportunities they have demonstrated with MiFiX, their financial services middle-ware ecosystem has the potential to positively impact the BFSI sector globally. We are very excited to back this talented New Street team and be part of this transformative journey.”
