Kadmos, a Berlin-based fintech platform, announced that it has secured €29M in a Series A funding round led by Blossom Capital with participation from existing investors Addition and Atlantic Labs. The announcement comes eight months after raising €8.3M in Seed round in December.
How will the funding be used?
The new funding will help Kadmos to accelerate technology and product development. Further, Kadmos plans to expand into other industries with similar salary payment complexities such as construction, healthcare, and hospitality. The company aims to grow its 30-person team significantly in the upcoming months.
The company aims to capitalise on the growing global cross-border B2C payment volume projected to reach $1.6T by 2022, involving 169T migrant workers globally, as per the UN.
What does Kadmos solve?
Kadmos was founded to tackle the restrictions placed on the financial freedom of cross-border employees and to use modern financial technology to allow migrant workers to have a streamlined salary experience.
Justus Schmueser, Kadmos co-founder says, “The financial restrictions placed on migrant workers are truly shocking. Employees need to wait days or weeks for their hard-earned salaries to reach their families and are then forced into paying exorbitant transaction fees or have to carry large sums of cash at their own risk. At Kadmos, we are working to change the status quo through cutting-edge financial technology and ensuring the hard-working people who power the global economy can keep more of their well-deserved salaries. The speed and size of our latest funding round underline the potential for our platform and we’re honored to partner with such a reputable and prestigious venture fund in Blossom.”
Streamlining cross-border payment
Founded by MIT graduates Justus Schmueser and Sasha Makarovych in 2021, Kadmos provides each employee with the mobile app, where salary payments are instantly paid, and allows employees to transfer money home or use a debit card to spend or withdraw cash seamlessly.
Digitalising the payment process means the funds can be kept in secure currencies within the Kadmos app, ensuring low transaction fees and market-leading foreign exchange rates.
This ensures workers keep more of their salary when they send money home, says the company.
The duo created Kadmos after a relative of Makarovych’s, who worked as a seafarer, told him of the complexity and hardship involved in getting paid. Following further research, they realized the immense need for fintech solutions designed for the shipping industry.
Sasha Makarovych, Kadmos co-founder says, “At Kadmos, our mission is simple, to make being paid internationally as easy as being paid domestically. In an ever-globalized world, it’s criminal that it is so difficult for cross-border employers and their employees to pay and be paid. We’ve been taken aback by the level of demand for our product, particularly as geopolitical crises continue to cause issues around cross-border payments. To have Blossom’s support will mean that we can continue to rapidly expand our team and the product.”
Alex Lim, Managing Partner of Blossom Capital says, “From the moment we met Justus and Sasha we couldn’t help but be drawn to their scale of ambition and drive. With outdated banking practices and multiple intermediaries that charge excessive fees, it’s clear that the process for cross-border payments is broken and Kadmos’ fintech platform is exactly the technology to fix it. 2022 looks set to be an exciting year for the team as they look to grow the product into new verticals and we’re delighted to be joining them on this journey.”
