Paris-based Kulipa has raised $6.2 million in a seed funding round co-led by Flourish Ventures and 1kx, with participation from White Star Capital and Fabric Ventures — the same investors who backed the company in its pre-seed round. The deal, structured as a SAFE and closed in December 2025, brings Kulipa’s total funding to $9.2 million and sets the stage for an aggressive push into the United States and deeper coverage across Africa and Latin America.
The announcement lands at a moment when stablecoins are no longer a niche curiosity. Daily stablecoin settlement volumes now exceed $300 billion globally, yet the infrastructure to actually spend those assets in everyday life has remained a conspicuously missing piece. Kulipa is betting that closing that gap — quietly, in the background — is a multi-billion dollar opportunity.
The Last Mile Problem in Crypto Payments
Kulipa’s pitch is deceptively simple: fintechs and crypto wallets shouldn’t have to become card issuers to give their users a payment card. Building that capability in-house means navigating principal membership with Visa or Mastercard in every region — a process that is notoriously slow, expensive, and operationally demanding, and one that is realistically out of reach for most startups.
Kulipa handles all of it. The startup manages payment processing, fraud detection, pre-funding, and settlement on behalf of enterprise clients, who plug in via API and control the user-facing experience end-to-end. The result is a white-label stablecoin card that can be issued under a partner’s brand in a matter of weeks.
“All the complexity behind the scenes is handled by us,” said CEO and co-founder Axel Cateland. “The wallet just plugs in via API and controls the experience end-to-end. We’re essentially closing the last mile between stablecoins and everyday spending.”
The company notably allows users to spend directly from stablecoin balances without first converting to fiat — a distinction that matters in markets where dollar-pegged assets have become a preferred store of value.
Traction That Speaks for Itself
Kulipa only launched its infrastructure in February 2025, but the numbers are moving fast. Since then, the company has issued more than 120,000 cards, signed 20 customers, and reported 70% month-over-month growth in transaction volume. Its client list includes notable names: African payments giant Flutterwave, crypto wallet Solflare, savings platform nSave, and Ready (formerly Argent).
“At Flutterwave, we’re focused on building payment infrastructure that works across markets at scale,” said Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola, gesturing at why the partnership made sense for Africa’s most prominent cross-border payments company.
Kulipa currently operates a local-first issuing model with regulated coverage in the European Union, Argentina, and Nigeria — three geographically and economically distinct markets that together form a useful proof of concept for its global ambitions.
Why the Investors Bit
For Flourish Ventures — the evergreen fintech fund backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar — the investment fits a clear thesis. Flourish has long focused on financial infrastructure for underserved consumers in emerging markets, and stablecoin-powered payments represent one of the most promising on-ramps.
“We’re seeing stablecoins moving beyond cross-border settlement and becoming part of real financial infrastructure,” said Ameya Upadhyay, general partner at Flourish Ventures. “The missing piece has been compliant, scalable card issuance.”
Co-lead 1kx, a crypto-native fund with deep roots in Web3 infrastructure, adds a different but complementary lens — one more attuned to the technical and ecosystem dynamics of building on decentralized rails.
Kulipa’s founding team also provides hard-to-replicate credibility. Cateland is the former Head of Banking and CEO at Spendesk Financial Services, and previously served as VP of Mobile Payments at Mastercard. CTO and co-founder Michael Shynar spent eight years as an engineer and engineering manager at Google, followed by four years at WhatsApp. In fintech, where execution depends as much on regulatory relationships as on engineering, that pedigree matters.
What’s Next
The fresh capital will primarily fund Kulipa’s expansion into the United States, where the company is pursuing a bank identification number (BIN) sponsorship arrangement. Cateland declined to name the sponsor, citing confidentiality.
Beyond the U.S., the company plans to broaden its footprint in Latin America through its own licenses, and across Africa through partner arrangements. The team, currently 20 people, is expected to grow to around 30, with hiring concentrated in go-to-market and customer success roles.
Kulipa generates revenue through client service fees and standard interchange income — a model that scales naturally as transaction volume grows.
As regulatory clarity around stablecoins improves in the U.S. and Europe, the window for infrastructure plays like Kulipa is arguably opening rather than closing. The question isn’t whether stablecoins will be spent in the real world. It’s who builds the plumbing that makes it happen seamlessly. Kulipa’s early bet is that it will be them.
