Quick take:
- Kresus has announced a $25 million funding round led by Liberty City Ventures.
- The fundraising also attracted participation from JetBlue Ventures, Craft Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Marc Benioff, and The Winklevoss twins, among others.
- The company said it will use the funds to accelerate the development of its web3 super-app.
Web3 SuperApp, Kresus has announced a $25 million Series A round led by Liberty City Ventures. According to press material shared with NFTgators, the oversubscribed round also attracted backing from JetBlue Ventures, Craft Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Marc Benioff, and The Winklevoss twins, among others.
Kresus is trying to accelerate the process of onboarding consumers to the blockchain by targeting multiple industries including airline, travel and hospitality. According to a promo image on the Kresus website, the web3 app offers a variety of services tailored for travellers including a wallet, a digital assets exchange platform and a travel guide.
Kresus was founded by serial entrepreneur Trevor Traina, renowned for founding or co-founding other successful businesses such as tech startup IfOnly (sold to MasterCard in 2019), StepUp Commerce (sold to Intuit in 2006), and CompareNet (sold to Microsoft in 1999), among others.
Traina also served as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Austria between 2018 and 2021.
The Kresus CEO is looking to disrupt the way customers interact with businesses through web3. Web3 is still in its nascent stage, with only about 2% of the global population using it. Kresus wants to make it easier for consumers to access blockchain-based services through its super-app.
Commenting on his company’s leading role in the Series A round, Murtaza Akbar, Founding Partner at Liberty City Ventures said: “Trevor’s reputation as an entrepreneur and passion for bringing Web3 to the mainstream is only surpassed by his team’s expertise in the blockchain and the future of the web. We believe Kresus’s offering will help revolutionize the Web3 ecosystem, making it accessible and user-friendly.”
On the other hand, Ryan Chou, Investment Principal at JetBlue Ventures commented: “Web3 has the potential to have a profound impact across industries, including travel and hospitality. We’re excited by the vision Trevor and Kresus see for the airline industry and look forward to seeing what the future holds.”
The airline industry and other consumer-facing markets are leveraging blockchain technology to offer NFT-based ticketing services blended with a customer loyalty program.
Kresus said it will use the funds to accelerate the development of its revolutionary SuperApp, scheduled to launch in early 2023. The company will also use some of the fresh capital to ramp up its hiring efforts and get into strategic partnerships.
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