Bitcoin fintech payment service startup Align Commerce, Inc. has raised $12.5 million Series A in a round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers that included Silicon Valley Bank, Recruit Strategic Partners and previous investors Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group and FS Venture Capital.

Founded in 2014 Align Commerce offers a person to person payment service that utilizes Bitcoin for point to point money transfers although without either the payer or recipient ever having to involve themselves in Bitcoin directly.

Described as an electronic “multi-rail” payments platform, the service combines Bitcoin Blockchain payments in an encrypted, data-driven rail, with traditional bank wire and treasury management.

Align Commerce says that its multi-rail platform lets small businesses, which are claimed to historically have paid the highest fees for bank transfers, take back control of the payment process by routing transfers quickly, safely and simply on the rail that offers the greatest benefit to their business.

“For far too long the cost and complications of existing payment systems have hindered startups and SMBs from fully capitalizing on global trade,” Align Commerce Chief Executive Officer Marwan Forzley said in a statement.

“The Align Commerce platform cuts through time-consuming red tape and excessive fees that have unnecessarily burdened users. Existing systems have seen little innovation in the face of game-changing new technologies, and the entire experience is overdue for a radically different approach.”

First world use

Align Commerce is far from the first startup to be using Bitcoin to facilitate person-to-person transfers, but unlike many we cover here at SiliconANGLE like Coins.ph, Abra, Inc., BitX and others what makes this company interesting is that it’s not targeting markets where money transfer services are hard to access, but first world markets where money transfer services are readily available.

The company believes that by utilizing Bitcoin and the Blockchain as a replacement to traditional fiat currency based money transfer services currently offered by banks and other financial institutions it can reduce costs for users who need to utilize these services, and if you’ve ever tried to transfer money internationally before, you’d know that there’s plenty of largese in terms of fees that can definitely be saved.

As part of the deal Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers General Partner Randy Komisar will join Align Commerce’s Board of Directors.

The company said it would use the new funding to expand their product into more markets accross a larger geographic area.

Image credit: screenshot/ Align Commerce