Partior, a blockchain-based payment network, has successfully closed the first phase of its $60 million Series B funding round. The round was led by Peak XV Partners, previously known as Sequoia Capital India & SEA, with participation from Valor Capital Group and Jump Trading Group. This follows the company’s earlier $31 million raise, as reported by Pitchbook.
The announcement comes on the heels of Partior’s recent appointment of new CEO, Humphrey Valenbreder, signaling a period of significant growth and leadership restructuring for the company. Partior was initially established by financial giants JP Morgan, DBS Bank, and Temasek, with Standard Chartered joining later. The company’s inaugural offering is an international settlement network leveraging tokenization, an evolution of Singapore’s Project Ubin central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative. This network enables clients, including other banks, to conduct instant cross-border payments around the clock.
Currently, Partior supports transactions in US dollars, Singapore dollars, and euros, with plans to expand to other major currencies. Future additions will include the Brazilian Real and various Gulf currencies. Clients such as Siemens and iFast Financial are already utilizing Standard Chartered for euro transactions, gaining enhanced liquidity control.
Partior’s next solution on the horizon is intraday FX swaps, with a proof of concept already completed involving JP Morgan, DBS, and Japan’s Mizuho. Additionally, the company is developing a Programmable Enterprise Liquidity Management system. This innovative system will allow corporations to manage liquidity in real-time across multiple banks, a feature that is expected to be highly attractive to corporate treasurers. However, its success will depend on banks’ willingness to collaborate despite competitive pressures.
Transforming Correspondent Banking with DLT
Partior’s current settlement network employs Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to streamline cross-border payments traditionally handled by correspondent banking. Today’s standard payment methods rely on messaging systems that separate payment instructions from the actual money movement, leading to inefficiencies and delays. By integrating tokens that merge instructions and funds transfer, Partior’s settlement banks—JP Morgan, DBS, and Standard Chartered—can process transactions instantly, 24/7, within their operating jurisdictions.
Dan Schulman, Managing Partner at Valor Capital Group and former CEO of PayPal, remarked, “Having spent a significant part of my career addressing global payments challenges, I understand the critical need to modernize cross-border payments and settlements infrastructure. Partior’s platform sets new standards for global, real-time clearing and settlement, in line with our vision of pushing financial services innovation through blockchain technology.”
The inclusion of non-bank investors like Valor Capital and Jump Trading in this funding round suggests a potential acceleration of innovation within Partior, especially given their strong interests in cryptocurrency. Although Partior remains focused on institutional services, these investors’ expertise could drive further advancements.
Partior brands itself as a Unified Ledger, a concept popularized by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The BIS recently initiated Project Agorá, involving seven central banks, with goals akin to Partior’s—to revolutionize correspondent banking through tokenization.
As Partior continues to grow and innovate, its impact on the global payments landscape could be substantial, offering unprecedented efficiency and transparency in cross-border transactions.
About Partior
Partior is a leading DLT-based payment network founded by JP Morgan, DBS Bank, and Temasek, with a mission to revolutionize cross-border payments and settlements through tokenization and blockchain technology.
Image by Federico Beccari from Unsplash
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