Ripple scores $55 million funding round; adds new bank members

Ripple has won a ringing endorsement for its approach to using distributed ledger technologies to transform the cross-border payment business, scooping $55 million in funding and adding fve new banks to its network.

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Ripple scores $55 million funding round; adds new bank members

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The financing includes participation from new investors including Standard Chartered, Accenture Ventures, SCB Digital Ventures, the venture arm of Siam Commercial Bank, and SBI Holdings. Additional investors participating in the round include Santander Innoventures, the venture arms of CME Group and Seagate Technology, and Venture 51.

The latest financing round bring total funding secured by Ripple since its inception to $93 million.

“With over $155 trillion of cross-border payments being made between businesses annually, it is crucial that we continue to innovate to make international payments easier and faster, not just for our clients but also for the future of the payments industry,” says Gautam Jain, global head, digitisation and client access, transaction banking, Standard Chartered. “As a leading international bank committed to facilitating trade, commerce and investments, this partnership will go a long way in progressing our digitisation agenda to develop innovative solutions for our clients.”

Ripple now counts 15 of the top 50 global banks, 10 banks in commercial deal phases and over 30 bank pilots completed. Coincidental with the funding, Ripple has announced five new banks as members of the network, including Standard Chartered, National Australia Bank (NAB), Mizuho Financial Group (MHFG), Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) and Shanghai Huarui Bank.

“We view blockchain as a competitive advantage that allows us to provide differentiated products, serve the on-demand expectations of our existing clients, and grow our customer base,” says Andrew Fang, general manager & head of innovation and research at Shanghai Huarui Bank. “For example, using the Ripple solution, we are working on a new commercial payment service for retail customers that will allow them to send money from China to the US and other countries in real-time.”

The news follows SBI Ripple Asia’s announcement last month of the creation of a Japanese consortium of 15 banks in a new network that will use Ripple’s technology for payments and settlement. SBI Ripple Asia projects that the 15 inaugural members will increase the size of the consortium to 30 banks and that the new service will go live in spring of 2017.

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