HIFI Series A Raises $37M, but Independent Scale Is the Real Test

HIFI raised a $37 million Series A as competition intensifies to control the infrastructure connecting stablecoins, bank accounts, cards, and tokenized securities. The HIFI Series A was led by Left Lane Capital and announced on September 24, 2026.

The New York company plans to expand beyond payment settlement into card products and tokenized capital markets. That strategy places HIFI between two large financial systems that rarely share one operating layer.

On one side sit blockchain networks that move tokenized money continuously. On the other sit regulated banks, card networks, custodians, and securities infrastructure with strict operating controls.

HIFI says its APIs combine money movement, compliance, and settlement across those systems. The financing gives it more room to develop that model, obtain licenses, and expand its team.

The harder question is whether an independent startup can become the shared layer for this market. Stripe owns Bridge, while Mastercard has agreed to acquire BVNK. Those combinations give competing platforms distribution, licenses, and large customer networks.

HIFI is taking a different route. It is using partnerships with Visa, Circle, and market institutions while remaining an independent infrastructure provider.

That position creates opportunity, but it also creates dependency. HIFI must prove that its platform can coordinate financial networks without being absorbed by one of them.

The HIFI Series A Funds a Broader Settlement Platform

The financing matters because HIFI is expanding its definition of settlement, not simply adding more payment corridors.

The company confirmed the round in its funding announcement. Left Lane Capital led the financing, and managing partner Matt Miller joined HIFI’s board.

Antler, HIFI’s first institutional investor, also participated alongside Tether. The company described the financing as its first priced round, meaning investors bought shares at an agreed company valuation.

HIFI did not disclose that valuation. It did disclose how it plans to use the capital.

The company intends to secure additional regulatory licenses, hire in New York and selected international markets, and expand its product suite. Its target areas include payments, cards, custody controls, and capital-markets settlement.

HIFI currently sells API infrastructure to businesses building financial products. An API is a software interface that lets one system request services or exchange information with another.

A customer can use HIFI to connect bank transfers, stablecoin movements, compliance checks, and final settlement without assembling every component separately. That abstraction is central to the company’s pitch.

HIFI says its infrastructure handles more than $7 billion in annualized volume across 87 countries. Annualized volume projects a recent transaction rate across a full year, rather than reporting completed yearly activity.

The company also says customers have onboarded more than 10,000 businesses and 200,000 individuals. Existing customer usage reportedly grew more than fourfold during the previous six months.

Those figures are company-reported and have not been independently audited in public. They still offer a useful benchmark for judging future progress.

The financing follows two events that moved HIFI beyond a typical cross-border payment story. It participated in live tokenized-asset transactions organized by DTCC in July.

HIFI also introduced stablecoin-funded push-to-card payouts through Visa Direct in September. The arrangement is intended to let developers fund transfers with stablecoins while recipients receive money through existing card infrastructure.

That combination explains the wider strategy. HIFI wants one integration to support ordinary payments, card-linked spending, and the cash side of tokenized securities transactions.

The company is not claiming that these markets already operate as one. It is betting that developers will prefer a shared settlement layer as the boundaries begin to overlap.

This makes the HIFI Series A more than financing for international stablecoin transfers. It funds an attempt to connect three established product categories before larger platforms close the remaining gaps.

Tokenized Markets Give HIFI a Timely Opening

HIFI raised the round after regulated institutions moved tokenization from controlled demonstrations into limited production transactions.

In July, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation converted securities held at its depository into tokenized representations. Participants then used those assets in live transactions within a production environment.

Tokenization creates a digital representation of an existing asset on a programmable ledger. The underlying security remains subject to established ownership rights and investor protections.

More than 30 organizations took part in the production transactions. They included BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Nasdaq, Circle, HIFI, and several infrastructure providers.

The transactions covered collateral pledges, securities lending, equity transfers, and delivery-versus-payment trades. Delivery versus payment links the transfer of an asset to the transfer of money.

DTCC conducted the activity across Besu and Canton networks. That multi-network design reflects an important reality for infrastructure providers.

Institutions are unlikely to move every asset, payment, and customer onto one blockchain. They need systems that coordinate different ledgers while preserving compliance and operational controls.

HIFI’s role involved the cash and settlement side of that coordination. The company says it also supported a tokenized repo transaction between DRW and Marex on Tradeweb.

A repo is a short-term secured financing transaction involving the sale and later repurchase of securities. In a tokenized version, both the collateral and payment can move through programmable systems.

These transactions do not prove that tokenized securities have reached broad commercial adoption. They show that regulated institutions are testing production workflows with real assets and established protections.

DTCC plans to launch its Tokenization Service in October 2026. The launch provides HIFI with a near-term opportunity to show whether pilot participation converts into repeatable business.

The timing also reflects a change in stablecoin regulation. The United States enacted the GENIUS Act in July 2025, creating a federal framework for payment stablecoin issuers.

Implementation remains unfinished. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has proposed rules addressing reserves, redemption, risk management, custody, supervision, and issuer applications.

Separate work is expected for anti-money laundering and sanctions requirements. The proposed framework therefore gives companies direction without eliminating regulatory uncertainty.

That distinction matters for HIFI. It does not need to persuade institutions that tokenized money exists, but it must manage a changing set of obligations.

HIFI says the new funding will help it obtain more licenses and operate more of its stack directly. Greater control can reduce reliance on outside providers, but it also increases compliance costs.

The opening is real because stablecoin payments and tokenized securities now share a practical settlement problem. The pressure comes from converting that overlap into dependable infrastructure across jurisdictions.

Independent Infrastructure Faces Captive Rivals

HIFI’s main challenge is not another startup feature list. It is competition from stablecoin platforms owned by companies with built-in distribution.

Stripe completed its acquisition of Bridge after agreeing to a transaction valued at approximately $1.1 billion. Bridge provides APIs for stablecoin issuance, orchestration, and international money movement.

Stripe can connect that infrastructure to merchants already using its payment products. It can also integrate stablecoin accounts, wallets, and payouts into one commercial relationship.

Mastercard has pursued a similar advantage through BVNK. The card network agreed in 2026 to acquire the stablecoin infrastructure company for up to $1.8 billion.

BVNK offers businesses tools for sending, receiving, converting, and storing fiat currencies and stablecoins. Its reported annualized payment volume reached $30 billion around the acquisition announcement.

An industry assessment described licenses, banking connections, and ecosystem depth as significant reasons for Mastercard’s decision. Recreating that footprint internally would require substantial time.

These acquisitions change the competitive standard. A stablecoin infrastructure provider now competes on more than API quality and blockchain support.

Customers also evaluate regulatory coverage, banking partners, liquidity, fraud controls, service reliability, and access to end users. Large owners can bundle those capabilities with existing payment products.

HIFI remains independent and is working through partnerships instead. That structure can make it a neutral option for companies that do not want their infrastructure controlled by a direct commercial rival.

Neutrality has value when customers need several bank, card, and blockchain networks. A provider without a dominant consumer or merchant platform can focus on connecting them.

However, independence does not automatically create leverage. HIFI depends on partners to reach bank accounts, card recipients, stablecoin issuers, and regulated markets.

The company’s Visa Direct connection illustrates both sides. Developers can combine stablecoin settlement with push-to-card payouts, giving recipients access through familiar payment infrastructure.

HIFI says the capability can reach more than 4 billion Visa cards. That number describes the potential network endpoint, not verified HIFI adoption.

Visa controls the card network and its operating requirements. HIFI controls the developer integration and settlement workflow around its service.

The relationship can expand HIFI’s reach without requiring the startup to create a card network. It also means HIFI’s product depends on a larger partner’s continued participation.

This is the article’s central contest: independent orchestration versus infrastructure owned by distribution giants.

HIFI must show that customers prefer a neutral connective layer over a platform embedded inside Stripe or Mastercard. It must also prove that neutrality does not produce fragmented accountability.

The HIFI Series A gives the company time to make that case. It does not remove the structural advantages held by acquired competitors.

One Settlement Layer Is the Bet

HIFI’s technical and commercial argument rests on treating payments, cards, and capital markets as versions of the same settlement event.

Traditional financial products developed separate operating systems. Card payments, bank transfers, securities trades, and corporate treasury workflows use different messages, intermediaries, and reconciliation processes.

Blockchain networks introduce shared programmable ledgers, but they do not erase those differences. A payment still needs compliance checks, liquidity, conversion, custody, and a recognized endpoint.

HIFI’s proposed mechanism is an orchestration layer that coordinates those steps through one integration. The company wants developers to specify where value starts, how it should move, and where it should settle.

HIFI then connects the relevant bank rails, stablecoins, blockchain networks, compliance services, and payout methods. The customer does not need to build every connection independently.

CEO Zach Walsh summarized the approach by saying HIFI views settlement as one problem rather than three. His examples covered payments, tokenized receivables funding cards, and securities clearing.

The useful part of that claim is not the slogan. It is the possibility of applying the same controls and transaction logic across previously separate products.

Consider a company holding working capital in a tokenized money market asset. It might need to redeem part of that position, pay an overseas supplier, and preserve an audit trail.

A connected platform could coordinate the asset conversion, compliance screening, stablecoin transfer, foreign exchange step, and local payout. Today, businesses often assemble that workflow from several vendors.

A second example involves tokenized securities. A trade requires an asset leg and a payment leg, with rules ensuring that one does not settle without the other.

Stablecoins can supply the programmable cash leg. HIFI’s opportunity is to connect that cash with trading venues, custodians, wallets, and settlement networks.

Card products add another route. A stablecoin balance can fund a payout that ultimately reaches a recipient through an existing Visa credential.

These cases use different front-end products, yet each needs reliable movement between traditional money and tokenized value. That common requirement supports HIFI’s unified design.

The company cites Sumitomo, Dapper, and Arival Bank as users of its infrastructure. Sumitomo is reportedly rebuilding cash-management and trading operations on HIFI’s rails.

Dapper is using the platform for digital marketplaces, while Arival Bank is supporting stablecoin payment experiences. These remain company-supplied examples rather than independently measured case studies.

HIFI has also integrated with the Circle Payments Network. That gives customers another settlement route and reduces reliance on a single network.

More connections can improve coverage, but every integration creates operational work. HIFI must monitor changes in counterparties, jurisdictions, assets, and technical standards.

A shared API can hide that complexity from developers. It cannot make the underlying legal and financial responsibilities disappear.

The company’s mechanism succeeds only if it provides consistent controls across all those paths. A failure in compliance, custody, or reconciliation would weaken the entire unified-layer argument.

The Numbers Still Leave Important Questions

HIFI has disclosed encouraging activity, but its public metrics do not yet show the economics or durability of the platform.

The company says it processes more than $7 billion in annualized volume. That is a measure of transaction flow, not revenue, profitability, or assets retained on the platform.

Payment infrastructure businesses can process large amounts while earning a small amount from each transaction. Margins also vary by corridor, payment method, compliance requirement, and customer contract.

HIFI has not publicly separated payment volume from capital-markets activity. It has not disclosed how much volume comes from a small number of customers.

The company also has not provided transaction counts, net revenue retention, failure rates, or settlement times. Those metrics would help buyers evaluate reliability and customer concentration.

Its reported presence across 87 countries also needs context. Country coverage can mean direct licensing, partner-enabled payouts, customer availability, or support for selected transaction routes.

Those categories carry different operational risks. A route supported through several intermediaries can behave differently from one operated under HIFI’s own licenses.

The financing announcement says HIFI will obtain additional regulatory approvals. That plan acknowledges that geographic reach and direct regulatory control are not the same.

Regulation presents a second uncertainty. The GENIUS Act created a federal structure for issuers, but detailed implementation continues.

HIFI is an infrastructure provider rather than simply a stablecoin issuer. Even so, its services touch custody, sanctions screening, money transmission, banking relationships, and cross-border settlement.

Each expansion can introduce a different regulator or licensing requirement. The company must update its controls without making the developer experience unpredictable.

A third risk involves partner concentration. HIFI’s proposition becomes more useful as it connects more networks, yet key partners can change pricing, eligibility, or technical access.

The Visa relationship expands potential payout reach, but public materials do not establish realized payment volume. The DTCC activity proves participation, not a long-term production contract.

The distinction between production transactions and scaled production is especially important. DTCC’s July event used real assets in a production environment, but it ran for several hours.

That milestone validated workflows under controlled conditions. It did not establish continuous institutional demand across every participating provider.

HIFI’s own growth disclosures also come from the company and its investors. Readers should treat them as reported operating indicators.

There is no evidence that the figures are false. There is also no public audit that resolves how the company calculates every measure.

Competition compounds these questions. Bridge can draw from Stripe’s merchant relationships, while BVNK can benefit from Mastercard’s distribution and risk infrastructure.

HIFI must spend its financing on licensing, engineering, compliance, sales, and partner management at the same time. That is a demanding expansion plan for a Series A company.

Its advantage may be focus. An independent company can move across networks without protecting a parent company’s dominant payment channel.

The market will determine whether that flexibility produces better customer outcomes. Funding alone cannot answer the question.

What Comes After the HIFI Series A

Three near-term signals will show whether HIFI is becoming durable financial infrastructure or remaining a promising integration layer.

The first signal is activity after DTCC launches its Tokenization Service. The planned October 2026 launch moves the market from a concentrated production event toward an ongoing service.

HIFI needs to show repeated transactions, deeper integrations, or named institutional use after that launch. Continued participation would strengthen its claim that payment and securities settlement belong on one platform.

Silence would not prove failure, since institutional deployments often remain private. However, another concrete production case would carry more weight than broad market forecasts.

The second signal is adoption of stablecoin-funded card payouts. HIFI has described access to Visa Direct endpoints, but potential reach is different from customer usage.

Useful evidence would include named deployments, transaction growth, additional payout corridors, or operating data. Buyers should also watch whether the service expands beyond its initial design.

Strong adoption would show that stablecoins can fund familiar payment experiences without requiring recipients to manage crypto wallets. Weak uptake would suggest that technical availability is ahead of customer demand.

The third signal is HIFI’s licensing and partner strategy. The company says it will bring more of its operating stack under direct regulatory coverage.

New licenses in major markets would give HIFI greater control over service quality and compliance. They could also reduce the number of intermediaries involved in a transaction.

That progress must be weighed against costs. Regulatory operations require experienced staff, capital, reporting systems, audits, and jurisdiction-specific processes.

Partnership announcements also deserve scrutiny. A large partner name matters less than the exact capability, launch status, and customer activity behind the relationship.

The independent model will look stronger if HIFI connects several major networks without becoming dependent on one. It will look weaker if critical products rely on a narrow group of counterparties.

The funding itself is already verified through the company, participating investors, and contemporary reporting. What remains unresolved is the company’s position after consolidation reshaped its category.

The HIFI Series A gives the company capital at a favorable moment. Stablecoin rules are taking shape, card networks are opening new settlement paths, and tokenized securities are entering production systems.

Yet timing is not defensibility. HIFI must translate access into recurring transactions, broader licenses, and reliable economics.

For developers and enterprise buyers, the practical question is straightforward: does one HIFI integration reduce enough regulatory and operational complexity to justify another critical dependency?

Watch the transactions after DTCC’s launch, real Visa payout usage, and HIFI’s licensing progress. Those signals will reveal whether its independent settlement layer can hold ground against vertically integrated rivals.