Latitude Raises $35 Million For Local Stablecoin Off-Ramps

Latitude announced a $35 million Series A round led by Oak HC/FT to expand its infrastructure for settling stablecoins into local payment systems. NEA, Coinbase Ventures, Lightspeed Faction and OpenFX also participated in the financing, which increases the company's total raised to $43 million when combined with an $8 million seed round from earlier this year.

The startup says the new capital will finance licences and connections that handle the domestic leg of stablecoin payments — the part that still relies on banks and national payment schemes. Rather than leasing these permissions, Latitude has been acquiring and operating the licences itself, which it offers as part of its service to customers wanting seamless local payouts.

Latitude’s regulatory footprint, as listed on its website, includes 39 money transmission licences, one state registration and five no-action letters across what it describes as 45 U.S. markets. The company’s payments entity, Latitude Payments Inc., is registered with FinCEN as a money services business. Latitude has completed a SOC 2 Type I audit and is targeting SOC 2 Type II in the fourth quarter. Live payout markets include Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the Philippines, India and most European countries, while Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Thailand, Vietnam and several African markets are in beta.

Industry players are increasingly focused on the same ‘‘last mile’’ connectivity. Oak HC/FT partner Oivind Lorentzen said Latitude has built the regulatory and local network required to scale. Other recent moves reported in the sector include Circle’s agreement to acquire Tazapay for $400 million in stock, Privy launching fiat on-ramps with Stripe in the U.S. and EU in July, and Deel expanding its DLUSD wallet to more than 80 countries in August.