Thai blockchain start-up Lightnet gains $31.2m in Series A funding
Thai fintech firm Lightnet has raised $31.2 million in a Series A funding round including UOB Venture Management, Seven Bank and HashKey Capital.
Bangkok, home of Lightnet
Lightnet plans to use the fresh injection of capital to invest in its blockchain platform Stellar – which it claims is an open-source decentralised solution for cross-border payments.
Founded in 2018 and based in Bangkok, Lightnet aims to be a “frictionless settlement hub for the East Asia region and provide real-time settlement.”
The firm wants to tackle the remittance market starting with underbanked migrant workers, who use what it calls slow, costly and outdated services.
The Stellar blockchain protocol is used to operate the Stellar Lumen cryptocurrency and will be the basis of an attempt by Lightnet to disrupt established players like Swift from the market.
“We launched Lightnet to offer low-cost and instantaneous financial inclusivity and mobility to the four billion lives across Asia Pacific — all powered by Stellar’s fast, scalable, and sustainable blockchain technology,” says Chatchaval Jiaravanon, chairman at Lightnet.
Investor Seven Bank owns all the 7-Eleven stores in Japan and 69,200 convenience stores across the globe, while Uni-President Asset Holdings owns 9,000 Starbucks and 7-Eleven locations across Taiwan, China and the Philippines.
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