Seed round co-led by Flourish Ventures and 1kx will expand regulated
issuing capabilities across Europe, Latin America, and Africa
Paris, France – April 2, 2026 — Kulipa, a Paris-based
stablecoin-native card issuing infrastructure platform, today announced
it has raised $6.2 million in seed funding co-led by Flourish Ventures
and 1kx, with participation from White Star Capital and Fabric Ventures.
Kulipa enables payroll, cross-border, digital banking, and spend
management platforms to issue globally accepted payment cards funded
directly from stablecoin balances, bridging onchain settlement with
real-world payments.
Stablecoins now settle more than $300 billion daily, yet they represent
only a small share of global payment flows. The infrastructure
connecting onchain settlement with regulated card networks remains
fragmented and capital-intensive, often relying on prefunded structures
and regionally limited licenses. As regulatory clarity increases,
fintech platforms need compliant, globally scalable issuing
infrastructure to translate stablecoin settlement into practical
financial products.
To address this gap, Kulipa has built a stablecoin-native issuing
infrastructure designed for capital efficiency, seamless compliance, and
global scale. The platform enables partners to launch payment programs
funded directly from stablecoin balances, supporting both rapid
pre-funded deployments and deeper wallet-native integrations. By
verifying balances and triggering settlement onchain, Kulipa reduces
reliance on collateral-heavy prefunding and enables partners to scale
more sustainably. Cards issued through Kulipa can be used anywhere major
card networks are accepted, including for retail payments and ATM
withdrawals. In addition, Kulipa assumes fraud liability on issued
programs, removing a key operational burden for fintech partners and
further aligning incentives around long-term performance.
“Stablecoins have proven their value as a settlement layer, but using
them in everyday financial products is still early,” said Axel
Cateland, Founder and CEO of Kulipa. “Card issuance is the bridge
between onchain balances and real-world payments. We built Kulipa to
give regulated fintech platforms the compliant, capital-efficient
infrastructure they need to operate at global scale.”
Kulipa operates a local-first issuing model with regulated coverage
across the European Union, Argentina, and Nigeria, with U.S. expansion
underway through BIN sponsorship. This compliance footprint aligns with
long-term issuer scheme requirements and evolving regulatory
expectations, allowing fintech platforms to build within established
financial frameworks.
Since launching its infrastructure in February 2025, Kulipa has issued
more than 120,000 cards, signed 20 customers, including Flutterwave,
Solflare, nSave, and Ready, and achieved 70 percent month-over-month
transaction volume growth. The company’s momentum reflects growing
demand from fintech platforms and wallet ecosystem partners to integrate
stablecoin settlement into real-world financial products across emerging
and developed markets.
“At Flutterwave, we’re focused on building payment infrastructure
that works across markets at scale. As stablecoins become a more
practical settlement option, it’s important that businesses can turn
those balances into real-world spending,” said Olugbenga Agboola,
Founder & CEO of Flutterwave. “Partnering with Kulipa allows us to
extend stablecoin value into globally accepted payments in a compliant,
scalable way.”
“Kulipa has enabled Ready to become an onchain alternative to
banks,” said Itamar Lesuisse, CEO of Ready. “With their
infrastructure, we can issue globally accepted cards directly from
stablecoin balances, giving our users seamless access to everyday
spending in a compliant and scalable way.”
Kulipa was founded in 2023 by a leadership team with deep payments,
scheme, and compliance expertise. Cateland previously led global Apple
Pay and Google Pay deployments at Mastercard. Co-founder and CTO Michael
Shynar built commerce infrastructure at WhatsApp and spent nearly a
decade as a staff engineer at Google. Head of Compliance Benoit Roger
brings regulatory experience from Binance and Nickel Bank, a French
neobank acquired by BNP Paribas. In addition, Josephine Soublin,
Kulipa’s Head of GTM, previously led Klarna’s launch in France.
“We’re seeing stablecoins moving beyond cross-border settlement and
becoming part of real financial infrastructure,” said Ameya Upadhyay,
General Partner, Flourish Ventures. “The missing piece has been
compliant, scalable card issuance. Kulipa fills that gap by combining
capital efficiency with multi-region regulatory coverage, enabling
fintech platforms to bring stablecoin settlement into everyday
payments.”
1kx Founding Partner Christopher Heymann added, “Stablecoins are
reshaping how money moves globally, but for mainstream adoption, people
need to spend them as easily as they spend fiat. Kulipa meets users
where they already are, starting with the card in their wallet, and
gives businesses a turnkey way to offer that experience. We believe this
payments layer is critical infrastructure for the next phase of crypto
adoption.”
The seed round brings Kulipa’s total funding to $9.2 million. As
stablecoins continue to mature as a settlement layer, Kulipa aims to
make stablecoin-based spending as seamless and globally accepted as
traditional card payments, enabling fintech platforms to operate as
fully integrated, onchain-enabled financial institutions.
About Kulipa
Kulipa is a stablecoin-native card issuing infrastructure platform that
enables wallets and fintechs to launch fully white-labelled payment
cards – so their users can spend stablecoins anywhere Visa and
Mastercard are accepted, with no top-ups, no off-ramps, just real-world
spending. Kulipa’s onchain settlement model keeps funds on-chain as long
as possible, reducing reliance on prefunding and removing the heaviest
operational and regulatory burdens from its partners. With regulated
issuing coverage across the EU, Latin America, Nigeria, and U.S.
expansion underway, Kulipa operates a local-first, compliance-first
model built for long-term scale, not short-term workarounds.
About Flourish Ventures
Flourish Ventures is an $850M global early-stage venture firm that backs
entrepreneurs transforming financial systems for the better. We believe
the most valuable fintech companies solve foundational
challenges—expanding access, improving products, lowering
costs—allowing people and businesses to thrive. Flourish’s global
portfolio spans over 100 companies across the U.S. and emerging markets.
Current investments include unicorns such as Alloy, Flutterwave, Kin,
Neon, and Unit, alongside frontier innovators such as Akua, Brico,
Crossmint, Fuse, Reserv, Spade, Stitch, Swap, and Vidyut. The firm also
champions entrepreneurs shaping policy, media, and research to
accelerate lasting change in financial services. Our evergreen structure
enables us to back long-term trends with conviction, unconstrained by
traditional fund timelines. Notable exits include Brigit (acquired by
Upbound Group), Chime (NASDAQ: CHYM), GrabFinance (NASDAQ: GRAB), Mantl
(acquired by Alkami), SeedFi (acquired by Intuit), and United Income
(acquired by Capital One).
About 1kx
1kx is a research-driven, fundamentals-focused global investment firm.
Founded in 2018 by tech entrepreneurs Lasse Clausen and Chris Heymann,
1kx invests at key inflection points for blockchain technologies to
create breakthrough opportunities across industries. The firm’s
mission is to develop the domain expertise and thought leadership
required to accelerate the most consequential markets emerging at the
intersection of blockchain and the broader economy. As one of the
top-performing and most institutionalized funds in the blockchain space,
1kx partners with a diverse global investor base, including sovereign
wealth funds, pension funds, endowments, foundations, fund of funds,
corporations, and family offices. Renowned for its hands-on approach,
technical rigor, and unwavering long-term commitment to founders, 1kx
has empowered over 150 visionary startups to scale transformative
projects while delivering enduring returns for its investors. To learn
more, visit https://1kx.capital/ or @1kxnetwork on X.
