Ansa, a startup that helps merchants develop and offer branded virtual wallets, has raised $14 million in Series A funding, the company tells TechCrunch exclusively.
Ansa's latest funding was led by Renegade Partners, with participation from existing backers Bain Capital Ventures, BoxGroup, and Wischoff Ventures, and new investor B37 Ventures. With this latest funding, Ansa has raised nearly $20 million in total venture capital, including his $5.4 million seed round. The company declined to reveal its current valuation, saying only the Series A was raised “at a significant valuation multiple.”
Notably, female investors such as Renata Quintini of Renegade Partners, Nichole Wischoff of Wischoff Ventures, Christina Melas-Kyriazi of Bain Capital, Nimi Katragadda of BoxGroup, and former Affirm executive Silvija Martincevic have raised Series A The company said it contributed 95.6% to the round.
Founded in 2022 by former Adyen product manager Sophia Goldberg and former Affirm software engineer JT Cho, San Francisco-based Ansa helps businesses process small payments and offset high credit card fees. We're building what we call a helpful, white-label digital wallet infrastructure. Small transactions.
Or, as Goldberg describes it, Ansa is building a “wallet as a service,” one that incorporates customer balances and allows any merchant to launch a branded, flexible payment method. .
This could be similar to Starbucks' in-app payment experience, where customers load funds. You can also enable sellers to raise funds with incentives and refunds. Ansa claims that by using its API-first platform, merchants can create wallets “within weeks instead of quarters.”
“Branded customer wallets enable merchants to offer payment solutions that better fit their use cases while increasing customer loyalty and usage,” CEO Goldberg told TechCrunch. Ta. “Furthermore, merchants can enhance their revenue streams and drive customer loyalty. With Ansa, merchants can integrate their customer balances with offers, incentives, and other loyalty initiatives in their wallets. We can encourage adoption.”
Ansa will initially focus on the coffee, quick service restaurant (QSR), and marketplace sectors as its core markets. Retail and convenience stores are also target markets.
Using a branded wallet also helps these types of merchants avoid paying credit card fees. Credit card fees can be high, especially for some purchases.
For example, Goldberg noted that if you pay for a $4 latte with a credit card, you could incur more than 12.5% additional costs. A typical e-commerce transaction will cost him $0.30 at 2.9%. Goldberg argues that this has a huge impact on small trades because the smaller the trade, the higher the percentage of fixed fees.
“A 30 cent fee on a $5 trade will represent a higher percentage of total revenue and will have a greater impact on profits than a $100 trade,” Goldberg added. “For merchants with low margins, these fixed fees can significantly reduce revenue.”
Image credit: Ansa
Goldberg said that in the first quarter of 2024, the company's customer base doubled compared to the previous year, but he did not provide specific customer or revenue numbers.
Ansa monetizes through a combination of platform fees and transaction markup.
“We charge based on service and value-add because we are part infrastructure and part revenue generation,” Goldberg said.
The funds will be primarily used for product development and engineering. We are currently recruiting 12 employees.
Renegade Partners' Quintini told TechCrunch that the company's investment in Ansa is its largest initial check to date.
“Ansa integrates with most modern PSPs (payment service providers), including Square, Stripe, and Braintree, so new merchants can get up and running quickly and start driving both loyalty and operational efficiency. ,” she told TechCrunch, adding that the technology “can be useful for any merchant.” To provide customers with a seamless Starbucks app-like experience. ”
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