Remittance App Abound Raises $14 Million

Remittance app Abound raised $14 million in a seed round from crypto heavyweights Circle Ventures and the Near Foundation.

The app aims to serve as a financial bridge between non-resident Indians (NRIs) and India. It has processed $150 million worth of remittances and boasts about 500,000 monthly active users. Abound is incubated by the digital arm of the Times of India Group, one of India’s largest news agencies.

> “Indians in America have a unique financial reality — one that spans two countries, two economies, and two currencies. Yet, the financial services available today weren’t designed for their needs,” said Nishkaam Mehta, CEO of Abound.

The investment will be used to scale the business by hiring for several key roles and enhancing its technology infrastructure.

Jeremy Fox-Geen, Circle’s CFO, stated that stablecoins and digital payment infrastructure are revolutionizing global finance, especially for diaspora communities.

Circle is the issuer of USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar with a market cap of $59 billion. A 2024 report noted that the stablecoin sector settled $10.8 trillion worth of transactions in 2023, with $2.3 trillion related to payments and cross-border remittances.