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Two former Revolut and Wise executives have raised $3 million to launch Riva Money, a cross-border payments startup betting that a hybrid of blockchain and traditional banking rails can shave costs and time off international transfers.
The pre-seed round was led by Berlin-based Project A, with angel backing from alumni of Revolut, Monzo and JPMorgan. Riva will use the funds to bulk up its engineering team and push through licensing ahead of an expansion into Europe, Asia and North America.
Co-founders Niklas Höjman and Mahendra Katoch — whose résumés also include stints at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup — are targeting a pain point they say even modern fintechs struggle with. They refer to legacy correspondent banking’s delays, opaque fees and patchy visibility.
For each transaction, Riva’s system decides in real time whether to send the funds through blockchain rails using stablecoins or over traditional fiat-to-fiat networks, depending on which is faster and cheaper. “By combining blockchain technology with a robust regulatory framework, we’re building a solution that offers businesses the speed, transparency and cost-efficiency they need to thrive in today’s interconnected economy,” Höjman said.
Regulation is central to the plan. The company is seeking Payment Institution authorisation in the UK and EU, along with MiCA and VASP licences in the EU and Switzerland. Those approvals will be key to winning corporate clients and avoiding compliance headaches in an industry where cross-border flows are tightly scrutinised.
Project A partner Malin Posern called Riva’s approach “an elegant way to give businesses speed and flexibility in a market still reliant on outdated processes.”
The move comes as stablecoin rules are firming up in Europe and treasurers becoming more open to on-chain settlement for certain corridors. Riva said in the statement that it is betting that the future of B2B payments isn’t a blockchain-versus-banks fight, but a routing game where the fastest, cheapest path wins.
