Software development startup Caliza Financial Technologies Inc. today announced that it has raised $5.3 million in new funding and has launched in Brazil.

Founded in 2021 by Ezra Kebrab, the former head of Visa Inc.’s fintech accelerator program, Caliza’s platform allows banks and fintech companies to embed its application programming interface infrastructure to offer their customers the ability to save and transact in U.S. dollars, regardless of their location. The service allows banks and fintech companies to offer real-time cross-border payments and embeds fiat-to-crypto on- and off ramps within their services, allowing customers to send and receive payments in U.S. dollars and exchange currency instantly.

Caliza argues that consumers and business owners often face many barriers when attempting to access a global economy. Opening a U.S. dollar account outside the U.S. is often too expensive or complex for financial institutions to make this service widely available to individuals or small businesses. Banks in local markets will often only provide U.S. dollar accounts for multinational corporations or private wealth clients with a certain threshold in deposits.

With its launch today in Brazil, local companies and individuals who were either previously excluded or were paying a substantial premium for access to international merchants and services, such as those from Amazon Web Services Inc., Slack Inc. and Apple Inc., will gain access to a suite of compliance, banking and payment services through USD Coin.

“National payment systems are improving rapidly with Central Banks launching real-time payment systems like Pix (Brazil), SPEI (Mexico) and UPI (India), among others, but there is still a large void in cross-border payments and banking,” founder and Chief Executive Kebrab explains. “Caliza is looking to solve this problem so that everyone can thrive in a global economy. And today, we’re taking that first step in Brazil.”

After launching in Brazil, Caliza plans to expand into Mexico in early 2024 and is also looking at countries across Africa and Southeast Asia as part of its roadmap.

Better Tomorrow Ventures LLC and Abstract Ventures LP led the seed round, with Fontes by QED LP, Quona Capital Partners LP, Valor Capital Group LP and a number of individual investors also participating.

Image: Caliza