Lightning Startup Zap Raised $3.5M for Bitcoin App Ahead of Visa Deal
The Lightning startup Zap Inc. just raised its first round to build out both mobile bitcoin wallet services and a Visa partnership in 2020.
Updated May 9, 2023 at 3:10 a.m. UTC
![Zap founder Jack Mallers speaks at the 2019 Lightning Conference in Berlin. (Will Foxley/CoinDesk archives)](https://www.coindesk.com/resizer/IfQ4FQvCcISoDNlTqrHSLUTsqfs=/567x425/filters:quality(80):format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/SDRIED6V2NHLLHRE7LAXF4OUIY.jpg)
The funding was first reported by Forbes on Wednesday.
- Founder Jack Mallers’ previously bootstrapped startup is now the latest jewel in the Green Oaks Capital crown, as the firm previously invested in fintech unicorns Robinhood and Stripe.
- Zap Inc., founded in 2017, is run by a staff of 13 people spread out from Chicago to Barcelona to Berlin.
- The team plans to issue a Visa card in 2020, making it one of the smallest startups to offer exchange services with mainstream liquidity in dollars.
- Zap Inc. investor Colleen Sullivan of CMT Digital said, "We believe that Zap/Strike will bring the use of the Bitcoin protocol and the Lightning Network to the masses, resulting in a much more efficient and cost-effective way for users to send and receive money while abstracting away the complexities of the underlying technology." CMT Digital is also invested in Lightning Labs.
Read more: Bitcoin Startup Zap Is Working With Visa