2019-1-15 00:24 |
Blockchain startups are still a lucrative source for venture capitalists to get in early on different projects, but the last year of the industry has taught these investors to be more cautious. Luckily, they seem quite trusting in Totle, a Detroit-based startup that calls itself the “Kayak of Crypto.” According to recent reports, Totle’s funding round brought in $1 million from private investors, led by Arrington XRP.
Arrington XRP was originally launched by Michael Arrington, who also founded TechCrunch. NEO Global Capital and Goren Holm Ventures also helped to lead the funding round. Totle itself provides an application programming interface (API) to a crypto wallet, which allows platforms like EtherDelta and RadarRelay to provide new benefits. Some of those benefits, according to CEO David Bleznak, include payments and transactions, arbitrage exploitation, and rebalancing. Specifically, supporting other decentralized platforms appear to be the main focus of the startups.
Now, with another round of funding, Totle has raised a total of $3 million. Bleznak called the timing of the fundraising “interesting,” adding, “A lot of the decrease in the value of the assets like ETH and bitcoin has really created a new environment where these venture groups are cautious and have been playing it close to the chest.”
With the new funding, Totle will be adding new developers to their team, though about 40% of the funds are allocated to the administration and marketing of the startup. Bleznak said,
“By adding just two or three more developers, we can integrate a lot more [business-to-business] customers.”
As far as the API, he added,
“A dozen groups are actively integrating [the API] into their software and another 50 groups that don’t have the resources [are in line]”.
Retail investors get the added benefit of better price discovery for both buying and selling in cross-border transactions, according to Arrington XRP partner Geoffrey Arone. Arone added,
“If you’re a [professional] trader, you can talk to people and get the best possible price.”
However,
“a lot of folks don’t have the time or means to execute [trades] to get the best possible price.”
Arrington had previously said that they did not plan on investing in more startups in the United States. Clearly, the confidence that he has in Totle is an indicator of the potential future of the startup, and Arrington’s faith that it will thrive. This might be due to the fact that the API is already a working product, and they have five more exchanges planned to be added to their team in the next few months.
The Totle founder knows that this startup is only in its initial stages, seeing that there is still a lot to work on. He added,
“If I built Uber and only had an iPhone 1, the technology wouldn’t work too well. But if I waited five years, it would catch up. It’s a similar situation for dApps and the blockchain.”
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