Orbital raises £5m for blockchain payments push

Orbital, a blockchain startup, has raised £5m ($6.4m) of funding.

The growth round, Orbital’s first major external funding round since its launch in 2017, is led Golden Record Ventures.

Headquartered in London but with bases in Tallinn and Gibraltar-based, the crypto payments platform - which says it has been profitable since its launch - also saw capital invested by New Form Capital, GSRV, Psalion and Luminous Futures. 

Orbital offers traditional fiat payment and global FX solutions alongside licensed crypto payment services, especially focusing on the business use cases for stablecoins in cross-border payments. Its APIs further act as an embedded finance solution for stablecoin payments. 

Businesses can accept cryptocurrency payments from customers, off-ramp into traditional currencies like USD, GBP and EUR, and then settle into IBAN accounts.

This means they can use cryptocurrencies to enter new markets without the need for a physical presence or domestic bank accounts, and even handle cryptocurrencies themselves.

It holds licenses from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (as an authorised payment institution) and is also a virtual currency service provider in Estonia.

Orbital’s says the new cash will help it to grow ahead of a larger Series A round and comes off the back of its seven-digit monthly revenue has grown over 40 per cent in 2023. 

It c.100 employees and over 80 clients processing a total of $250m every month. 

“We believe all modern, global companies will require access to both blockchain and fiat payment rails, from one single platform, to effectively manage their business in the future, Orbital’s co-founder and head of corporate development, Luke Wingfield-Digby said.

“Bootstrapped and profitable since 2017, we’ve both grown rapidly and raised financing in a very difficult crypto bear market. Now we’re ready to scale even further and push our platform towards the bleeding edge of fintech,” he added.