Cryptocurrencies

Eco Raises $26 Million in Latest Investment Round

With cryptocurrencies and blockchain continuing their march into the mainstream, venture capitalists are taking notice of startups utilizing these technologies in new and interesting ways. Recent weeks and months have brought a flurry of investments to their firms. The latest in this line is Eco, which has just revealed an eight-figure funding round.

This week, Eco announced that it had raised $25 million in its latest funding round. The Series A was led by 16z Crypto while Founders Fund, Activant Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and Slow Ventures participated. On top of that, the startup says that those investors were joined by “more than one hundred others.” To date, Eco has raised a total of $34.5 million, having previously secured $8.5 million in a seed round led by Expa and Pantera Capital early last year.

Eco aims to help users make the most of their money while replacing their traditional savings accounts, checking account, and credit/debit card. The company says that customers will earn 2.5% (and up to 5% if they refer friends) in interest annually on deposits as well as receive up to 5% cashback on select spending — all by leveraging cryptocurrencies. Other planned features include bill pay, P2P payments, and more. Currently, the service is in a private beta but is recruiting users for their pilot program via a waitlist on their website. What’s more, the startup boasts that said waitlist is more than 140,000 users deep.

Speaking more to the firm’s goals and vision, Eco CEO Andy Bromberg said in a statement, “Eco is arriving at the moment we need it most — existing financial infrastructure is failing us, and we deserve something better. Eco puts your money back to work for you. It’s not a bank, checking account, or credit card — we’re building something better than all of those combined.”

As noted, Eco’s Series A comes as cryptocurrencies are enjoying a true breakthrough. Over the weekend, Bitcoin topped the $60,000 mark for the first time to set a new record high (although it’s since pulled back some to around $55k). Meanwhile, investments in crypto-related companies have seemingly picked up, with BlockFi and NYDIG recently unveiling $350 million and $200 million investment rounds respectively.

While Eco’s inner workings remain a bit vague (at least to the public), clearly this round of investors like what they see in the company. Plus, with the startup now inviting users from its waitlist, it won’t be long before more details about their unique offering become available. As a result, Eco suddenly emerges as a FinTech to watch as the cryptocurrency revolution really starts to gear up.

Also published on Medium.

Other Articles by Jonathan Dyer