Knox Custody founders close $1.8 million CAD to launch borderless Bitcoin payments with Tmrw

Canadian-founded, Miami, Fla.-based Tmrw has secured $1.8 million CAD ($1.3 million USD) in pre-seed funding to make global peer-to-peer payments easier with Bitcoin.

Tmrw is developing a social payments app coupled with physical Bitcoin ATMs installed with its software. Its solution is designed to offer a faster, cheaper alternative to traditional cross-border remittance services provided by legacy players like Western Union.

Ramdial called today’s fundraising environment “gnarly.”

The startup claims it will let users in the United States (US) send money to friends and family in the Caribbean and Central and South America using Bitcoin, which they can then withdraw in cash whether or not they have a bank account.

“We think of what we’re building as kind of like a payments logistics company,” Tmrw co-founder and CEO Ari Ramdial told BetaKit in an interview.

Raised via simple agreement for future equity, Tmrw’s pre-seed round closed in June and marks the company’s first external funding to date. The financing was led by Maple VC with support from Bitcoin startup entrepreneur and investor Brad Mills and other undisclosed Bitcoin angels.

The startup plans to use this funding to build out its product, which relies on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, and bring it to early users in key markets.

The Bitcoin startup was founded in 2021 by two Canadians, Ramdial and CPO Alexandra Lutchman. This is not the pair’s first foray into the crypto world: they previously launched and led venture-backed, Montréal-based insured digital asset custodian Knox Custody.

Ramdial said he left Knox in early 2019, after just over a year for personal reasons, noting that Lutchman followed months later. “I loved what we did at Knox, but I found myself wanting to work on a company that was closer to the original mission of helping everyday people connect to Bitcoin,” Lutchman told BetaKit.

Two years ago, Knox partnered with fellow Canadian crypto custodian Tetra Trust, combining its insurance cover with Calgary-based Tetra’s regulated status in a deal that saw Tetra acquire some elements of Knox’s business.

Ramdial said his goal for Knox involved figuring out how to price the risk associated with cryptocurrencies and private key management. “My vision at the time had been to build some sort of Lloyd’s of crypto,” he said, referring to the insurance giant. “Can you price various types of loss events and be the underwriter for the industry?”

According to Ramdial, his early departure from Knox left him hungry to try again. “I do think I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder for not being able to realize my vision,” he said.

Tmrw is using Universal Money Addresses (UMA)—an open payment standard built on the Lightning Network that enables users to send and receive money 24/7 using UMA-enabled wallets, exchanges, or banks.

On the social side of the equation, Tmrw enables users to add text, GIFs, and images to payments, react with emojis, and share Bitcoin purchases with friends.

Ramdial called today’s fundraising environment “gnarly to say the least.” He noted that Tmrw initially considered raising capital back in 2022, and then the tech and crypto market crashed and it postponed those plans. The company was bootstrapped until this financing.

“It kind of put everything on ice for almost a year,” Ramdial said.

The Tmrw CEO described the Canadian venture capital ecosystem as “particularly conservative when it comes to crypto deals, especially consumer [ones].” Ramdial noted that investors in Canada tend to gravitate towards startups building the “picks and shovels” of Web3.

“They want to invest in infrastructure plays, because they can spread their risk around, so as a consumer Bitcoin company, it was really, really fun,” Ramdial said sarcastically.

Tmrw eventually found a suitable match in San Francisco-based Maple. Led by founder and general partner Andre Charoo, who was born and raised in Canada, Maple focuses on Canadian entrepreneurs building in the US.

“A big ambition combined with a unique insight and a new way of doing something are the three main characteristics we look for at Maple,” Charoo told BetaKit. “With Tmrw, using Bitcoin as a remittance to cash, versus Western Union as an example, for people specifically living in dual currencies, really captured our imagination. In addition, creating ‘Venmo for Bitcoiners’ as an initial hook into the market seems very non-obvious to most, which we really like.”

Tmrw’s parent company is headquartered in Toronto, and the startup currently has two Canadian employees, including Lutchman. Going forward, Ramdial noted that the Tmrw plans to build its engineering team in Canada.

The startup’s initial focus is the English-speaking Caribbean, from where it aims to build market share and then expand out. “It’s from where I’m from,” Ramdial said. “We know that region very well. We understand the pain points and problems very well.” From there, it plans to expand into South and Central America.

Charoo noted that he resonated with Tmrw’s goal of providing people living in dual currency regimes like the Caribbean—where his family is originally from—with an alternative means of instantly accessing cash.

“The founders’ insight of connecting cash to the internet by using Bitcoin as rails for global money is revolutionary,” Charoo said. “Having founders with firsthand experience who grew up in this target market and have the skills to bring this idea to fruition is very special.”

Tmrw’s mobile app is currently available in Apple’s App Store across the Caribbean in private beta. According to Ramdial, it will go live in the US next month.

Feature image courtesy Tmrw.