The Tezos blockchain-based crypto payments startup Lyzi is making life easier for people who want to spend their digital assets in the real world after raising €1.3 million in seed funding.
The money comes from angel investors such as Christopher Grilhault des Fontaines, the co-founder and co-Chief Executive of wallet-as-a-service provider Dfns. Singapore-based NYX Ventures also took part in the round as well as Jean-Luc Bernard, founder of the French telecommunications and big data company Astek.
Lyzi is building the infrastructure to bring cryptocurrency payments into the real world, in both retail and e-commerce environments. It says it’s doing this to meet growing demand among retailers and consumers alike to be able to use cryptocurrencies. The firm developed its platform after more than two-years of research and testing.
The startup’s solution is built atop of the high-performance and low-energy Tezos blockchain, and is designed to give merchants and retailers the flexibility to accept payment in various cryptocurrencies. In that way, customers can spend whatever token they wish. Retailers have the option to keep the crypto or instantly exchange it into fiat that lands in their bank account within seconds, eliminating the risks associated with crypto volatility.
Lyzi explained that its platform caters to various scenarios. For instance, its flagship solution is designed to integrate directly with existing in-store point-of-sale systems, while it also offers a SoftPos offering for retailers to accept mobile QR code payments. In addition, it caters to e-commerce sites, enabling online stores to add crypto payment options to their checkouts.
The startup has developed extensive ties with the crypto industry and supports more than 350 digital wallets globally, having forged a number of key partnerships with crypto firms. It has made good progress in terms of adoption, too, with its crypto payment solutions integrated with more than 400,000 points of sale, most of them based in France. Some of the most notable retailers using its services include Printemps, Fitness Park, St. Dupont, and Black and White Burger, and it says it will announce many more later this year.
Lyzi says this adoption is no shock, for the demand for crypto payments is growing rapidly. It points out that 18% of people in France now own cryptocurrency, compared to just 12% one year earlier, while globally, the number of crypto owners is expected to reach more than one billion by 2027.
Cedric Roche of the Paris-based Tezos R&D hub Nomadic Labs said he’s not surprised to see crypto payments gaining in popularity, as cryptocurrency “represents the last word in financial freedom.”
That explains why Lyzi is so confident it’ll see increased demand for its technology going forward, and it has some big plans in place to seize on that growth. One of its most important up-and-coming milestones will be the launch of its services on the EVM-compatible Tezos Layer-2 network Etherlink, which is slated to take place during the second quarter. With this move, it will expand its support for many more digital assets and deliver lightning-fast payment processing.
Lyzi co-founder and CEO Damien Patureaux said crypto people want to be able to pay for goods and services using digital assets, and merchants have become very aware of this.
“Accepting payment in crypto is also gaining in popularity among merchants, both in-store and online, thanks to advantages such as rapid settlement and crypto’s ability to streamline access to global customers,” he said. “By integrating Lyzi, businesses can ensure that they’re attractive to customers who wish to pay in crypto while also seamlessly capitalizing on the booming digital asset market with an innovative and secure solution.”
Lyzi said the funds from today’s round will help to accelerate the development of its technology and expand its services to more European countries. Ultimately, it wants to make it so easy for merchants to accept crypto that doing so becomes a no-brainer.
“Since crypto is global, we’re really excited to bring our solution to more markets around the world and integrating with Etherlink is the next phase of that journey,” Patureaux said.
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