Shield, a crypto neo-bank focused on B2B cross-border payments, has secured $5 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by Giant Ventures, with participation from a16zcrypto's CSX, Factor Capital, and strategic angel investors from major financial institutions like Bank of America, Coinbase, and American Express.

This funding round underscores the growing investor confidence in stablecoin-based solutions for real-world business applications. Shield aims to address the long-standing challenges of traditional cross-border payments, such as high fees, slow settlement times, and compliance complexities. By leveraging stablecoin rails, Shield offers a payment infrastructure that operates 24/7, reduces costs by up to 90% compared to traditional wire transfers, and settles transactions in minutes rather than days.

The company has demonstrated significant traction, achieving a monthly transaction volume of $40 million as of August. This growth comes as major payment industry players like Stripe and PayPal are also making strategic moves into the stablecoin space. Shield's focus on serving exporters positions it to capture a meaningful share of the estimated $36 billion B2B stablecoin payments market.

The successful seed round is a testament to the founding team's ability to navigate a significant business pivot from web3 security to payments and their relentless execution in building a solution that resonates with the needs of global businesses. This development signals a broader trend of venture capital flowing into infrastructure that bridges traditional finance and the digital asset economy, particularly in the B2B sector.

Read More:
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/22/a16z-crypto-backed-shield-raises-5m-to-help-facilitate-international-business-transactions-in-crypto/?utm_campaign=social&utm_source=X&utm_medium=organic