Web3 banking platform Juno raises $18 million, launches tokenized loyalty program • TechCrunch

Juno, a startup that gives checking accounts to crypto lovers and permits them to take their paychecks in digital tokens, has raised a brand new funding spherical because it expands its choices to incorporate a tokenized loyalty program.

The one-and-a-half-year previous startup has amassed over 75,000 prospects within the U.S. who take their salaries (some in entirety, relaxation in parts) in crypto and make investments persistently in digital belongings every month.

Clients are in a position to spend their crypto or money utilizing the startup’s Mastercard-powered debit card, make invoice funds and simply transfer funds to and from conventional banks in the event that they so want. Juno additionally affords direct onramps to prospects from a checking account to layer 2 blockchains resembling Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism for zero charges.

The eponymous platform integrates with all fashionable payroll platforms within the U.S., making it simpler for patrons who’re long run believers in crypto to maintain doubling down on their bets with out having to fret about manually transferring funds to totally different exchanges. It additionally affords prospects automated tax reporting by way of kind 1099, releasing them from having to manually sift by way of their transactions and calculate beneficial properties.

On Saturday, Juno introduced it has raised $18 million in a Sequence A financing spherical. The funding was led by ParaFi Capital’s Development Fund and noticed participation from scores of backers together with Greycroft, Antler World, Hashed, Bounce Crypto, Mithril, sixth Man Ventures, Summary Ventures and Uncorrelated Fund.

Juno – which additionally counts Sequoia India’s Surge, Dragonfly Capital, Polychain Capital, Consensys Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Surojit Chatterjee, Sandeep Nailwal and Ryan Selkis amongst its backers – has reached $1 billion in annualized transaction quantity processing, Varun Deshpande, co-founder and chief government of Juno, mentioned in an interview.

“Crypto natives within the US are discovering present banks fully insufficient for on a regular basis use of crypto. We’re rebuilding a checking account from the bottom up with crypto and web3 at its core. Juno empowers members to earn a part of their paycheck in crypto and use crypto for on a regular basis transactions like invoice funds or shopping for espresso,” he mentioned.

Tokenized loyalty program

Juno, which raised a $3 million seed funding final yr, is now prepared for a brand new providing: an non-compulsory loyalty program. The startup is introducing an ERC20 token, known as JCOIN, which might be rewarded to prospects, in the event that they so select, primarily based on their utilization. Remarkably, Juno co-founders, staff and traders usually are not taking any allocation within the tokens to keep away from battle of curiosity in a transfer that’s in distinction with how a major variety of business gamers function.

“We really feel distributing tokens to founders, traders and staff members creates misaligned incentives. Being market individuals with privileged data creates mistrust with group in the long run,” mentioned Deshpande.

“The exit path for our firm’s success stays growing profitable merchandise, and the trail for our traders and staff stays an IPO,” he mentioned.

Juno took a snapshot of shoppers’ utilization on Friday and has generated 150 million tokens that they’re eligible for. Every greenback spent utilizing the platform provides prospects entry to a token. Time beyond regulation, prospects should spend extra to obtain the identical quantity of tokens as rewards, he mentioned.

The startup, primarily based in India, is a part of a rising wave of fintech and software program corporations within the South Asian nation which can be more and more constructing for the worldwide markets. Previous to beginning Juno, Deshpande and different co-founders — Ratnesh Ray and Siddharth Verma — labored on Nuo protocol in 2019. They discontinued the protocol two years later to construct one thing that’s compliant with the rising regulatory surroundings.

Juno has a staff that “deeply perceive each fintech and crypto. Seamlessly integrating crypto and web3 in a checking account which is a trusted and acquainted interface for hundreds of thousands of Individuals will help onboard new customers to web3,” mentioned Ryan Navi, Principal at ParaFi Capital, in an announcement.

“Their empathy in the direction of customers new to web3 and keenness for creating stunning crypto-native merchandise with compliance at its core units them aside. They’re creating a wholly new class in neo banking and we’re excited to again them.”