Amit Jain, former head of Uber’s Asia Pacific division, mentioned on Monday that his new enterprise, Zamp Finance, has secured $21.7 million in seed funding.
Zamp Finance simplifies the method for companies to speculate their extra capital in US Treasury payments, offering a hedge towards financial institution failures and different uncertainties. The US-registered startup’s seed spherical was led by Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, with participation from plenty of high-profile executives together with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, former SoftBank chief working officer Marcelo Claure and Doordash chief government Tony Xu.
TechCrunch reported in regards to the funding talks in Could. Jain left Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, the place he served as a associate, final yr.
Zamp provides a treasury administration platform that allows companies worldwide to speculate surplus money in U.S. Treasury payments and notes, partnering with BNY Mellon Pershing, which manages over $2 trillion. Whereas the platform serves companies of all sizes, it doesn’t cater to people. US Treasury Payments are thought to be a protected funding, as they’re backed by the total religion and credit score of the U.S. authorities, has excessive liquidity, predictable yield and tax advantages.
“Our clients, and a number of them are startups, usually are not on the lookout for a specific yield or need to speculate with the money they’ve. They’re on the lookout for methods to maintain their money protected in a means that protects them from dangers associated to foreign money or establishment,” mentioned Jain in an interview.
Jain. Picture credit: Sequoia India
Zamp has a number of enchantment: It eases a agency’s entry to monetary devices and serves as a company treasurer, permitting companies to maintain give attention to their core operations. Zamp’s clients get brokerage accounts with BNY Mellon, which means that their funds stay segregated from these of different clients.
Zamp declined to disclose what number of clients it has, however famous that greater than 100 companies signed up in two weeks following the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank.
“If all of your cash is in a financial institution, you then’re topic to the dangers of the financial institution. It’s not one thing that individuals thought a lot about earlier, however clearly has been within the information for the previous couple of weeks. Now an more and more rising variety of founders are serious about diversification of money into a number of financial institution accounts,” Jain mentioned.
Zamp plans so as to add extra monetary devices over time. Jain mentioned the startup has evaluated a number of sovereign funds and company bonds, however he asserted that whether or not Zamp provides them to clients is dependent upon their suggestions and demand.
