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.

By Leigh Cuen

Jul 16, 2020 at 8:26 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 9:32 a.m. UTC

mallers-zap-3 — Zap founder Jack Mallers speaks at the 2019 Lightning Conference in Berlin. (Will Foxley/CoinDesk archives)

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Lightning startup Zap Inc., maker of both the namesake, non-custodial bitcoin wallet and the payments app Strike, raised its first round in April, led by Green Oaks Capital and including veteran bitcoin investor Anthony Pompliano.

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.

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