Most cross-border payment companies are middlemen - built on legacy infrastructure and passing the inefficiencies on to their customers. Latitude is different: purpose-built stablecoin rails, licensed and designed from the ground up for the speed and transparency that global payments have always needed.

The result: settlements in minutes to local bank accounts, 50bps flat at the real interbank rate, no volume commitments, and onboarding in days - not months.

Backed by $8M seed led by NEA with participation from Lightspeed Faction, Coinbase Ventures, Paxos, Bitso, and the Solana Foundation

SAN FRANCISCO: Latitude, a global payments infrastructure company building a new foundation for cross-border money movement, today announced its launch out of stealth alongside an $8 million seed round led by NEA with participation from Lightspeed Faction, Coinbase Ventures, Paxos, Bitso, and Solana Foundation, among others. Founded by former leaders from Stripe, Coinbase, Uber, Zero Hash, and Facebook, Latitude is addressing one of the most persistent failures in global commerce: sending money across borders is slow, expensive, and operationally complex.

Despite operating in a 24/7 global economy, businesses still rely on legacy banking rails that take two to five business days to settle payments, hide fees across intermediaries, and require fragmented providers by region. Paying someone internationally can feel closer to mailing a check than sending a digital payment.

Why Latitude, Why Now?

The regulatory fog has lifted. With the U.S. establishing the first federal framework for stablecoin payments, the rails are finally clear, and demand for a full-stack blockchain-native solution that can move money globally, instantly, and compliantly is surging. The moment extends beyond stablecoins as new payment use cases emerge. AI agents will default to the simplest and most programmatic stack. Merchants selling globally will favor the most reliable, affordable, and cost-effective local-currency solution. Latitude was built for exactly this moment.

Built by Payments Operators

Latitude was founded by payments veterans who have spent their careers building the infrastructure that powers global commerce. CEO Cyril Mathew spent over a decade at the intersection of payments and stablecoins. At Uber, he led international driver and payment partnerships. At Coinbase, he led USDC growth. At Stripe, he led the launch of creator payouts via stablecoins across more than 100 countries. Across each, the lesson was the same: payments must be instant, intuitive, and settle in local currency.

“Global payments shouldn’t operate on infrastructure designed for a different era,” said Cyril Mathew, co-founder and CEO of Latitude. “Uber taught me that gig workers need money now. Coinbase taught me that crypto needs simplicity. Stripe taught me that stablecoins need local-currency connectivity to matter. Each company gave me a lesson the next one needed, and Latitude is where they all land. A fully regulated platform with stablecoins as the engine and local currency as the destination, moving money across borders instantly, and at a fraction of what businesses pay today."

He is joined by co-founders Brian Wrightson (CTO), who was an early engineer in adtech and targeting at Facebook before building enterprise products at Stripe, and Vivek Morzaria, who worked on business and corporate development at Uber, Lime and OpenSea, driving deals representing billions in value. Together, the team brings 25 years of combined experience in payments, fintech, and financial infrastructure. Having scaled payments across some of the world's most ambitious companies, the team kept hitting the same wall: moving money globally was still slow, opaque, and broken.

What Latitude Does

Latitude is simple by design. Global Payouts, our flagship product, offers a flat rate of 50bps in every market it serves, the interbank FX rate guaranteed, instant settlement to local bank accounts in fiat, and onboarding in days, not months. No volume commitments. No hidden spreads. Ever.

Underpinning this is the Latitude Liquidity Network, a modern settlement infrastructure combining stablecoin rails, built-in compliance, and direct local payout connectivity across 50+ countries, built from the ground up on new financial rails rather than legacy infrastructure. For fintechs and digital wallets building on stablecoins, Latitude’s embeddable on/off ramps tap directly into this network, providing local bank-to-stablecoin connectivity with minimal integration friction and competitive fees.

“In fintech, regulatory clarity and technical innovation rarely arrive at the same time, but that's exactly what's happening now," said Rick Yang, Partner and Head of Technology Investing at NEA. "I’ve seen what it takes to win in financial infrastructure and payments. I believe Latitude has the regulatory depth, the technical architecture, and most importantly, the team that an opportunity like this demands.”

In Less Than a Year

In months, Latitude has built what most companies take several years to build:

• A real-time liquidity & payout network spanning 50 countries, wired natively with stablecoin liquidity so funds arrive in local currency, instantly
• 38 state money transmission licenses or approvals secured at record speed, secured faster than any competitor
• Direct integrations into major stablecoin issuers and U.S. bank partners: no middlemen, no legacy overhead, no hidden markups
• Two products live, a third on the launchpad: global payouts for platforms, consumer on/off ramps built on local payment methods, and business dollar accounts for companies moving money across borders

"Switching to Latitude was one of the easier decisions we've made," said Adrian Lopez, CEO of Zencastr. "We're paying our creators in markets and settling in local currency instantly, and finally working with a payments partner that's expanding into the same markets we care about. The support and flexibility have been a breath of fresh air - we're not just a ticket in a queue anymore."

If you move money internationally, Latitude was built for you. Whether that’s paying sellers, contractors, freelancers, or gig workers, or powering local currency on/off-ramps for neobanks and digital wallets.

About Latitude

Latitude is a global payments infrastructure company building a new foundation for money movement. By combining stablecoin settlement with local payout rails, built-in compliance, and global licensing, Latitude enables businesses to move money instantly, predictably, and at scale. Latitude serves payroll platforms, marketplaces, fintechs, and wallets operating across more than 50 countries.

For more information or to get started, visit latitude.xyz.

Fonte: Business Wire