Founder: Ivan Soto-Wright (CEO), Victor Faramond
Launched:2018
Headquarters:Miami
Funding: $555 million
Valuation: $3.4 billion
Key technologies: Blockchain, decentralized finance (DeFi), Internet of Things
Industry: Fintech
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 0
Persephone Kavallines
Founded in 2018, Miami-based MoonPay's software lets users buy and sell cryptocurrencies using conventional payment methods like credit cards, bank transfers, or mobile wallets likeApplePay andGooglePay. It also sells its technology to other businesses including crypto website Bitcoin.com andnon-fungible token marketplace OpenSea, a model CEO Ivan Soto-Wright calls "crypto-as-a-service."
Soto-Wright said the firm aims to make crypto accessible to the masses in the same way that video-conferencing tools likeZoommade it easier to make calls over the internet.
MoonPay's pitch to investors is that it offers a "gateway" to digital assets. For now, that includes bitcoin,etherand other digital tokens like NFTs. The recent market volatility and risk-off investor environment hasn't been kind to crypto trading, but Soto-Wright's vision is to expand the platform to include everything from digital fashion to tokenized stocks.
More coverage of the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50
See the full list of 2022 Disruptor 50 companies
Silicon Valley supply chain fixer Flexport tops the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50 list
How we chose the Disruptor 50 companies
What happens after the crash for cash-burning tech companies
Where the billions being spent on autonomous vehicles is heading
Early Tesla investor bets on a logistics start-up
Where tech workers are finding buyers for private stock with IPO market shut
The Oculus VR headset creator joins the military
The company hoping to beat Warren Buffett's bet on dialysis
A very tall French warehouse robot coming for the jobs we can't reach
How America's towns and cities are getting a climate retrofit
The company says it has been profitable since launching its platform in 2019. Its service is now used by more than 10 million customers in 160 countries. Last month, MoonPay added more than 60 celebrity investors to its balance sheet, including Justin Bieber, Gwyneth Paltrow, Snoop Dogg and Ashton Kutcher, among others. Combined, its new investors poured$87 million into apreviously announced$555 million funding round led by Tiger Global and Coatue, valuing the company at $3.4 billion.
Looking ahead, MoonPay plans to spend the money raised on new products and expansion. Soto-Wright says the firm already has ambitions to take the business public. "We have aspirations eventually to be a public company," he previously told CNBC.
Sign upfor our weekly, original newsletter that goes beyond the annual Disruptor 50 list, offering a closer look at list-making companies and their innovative founders.