AnsaA startup that helps merchants develop and offer branded virtual wallets has raised a $14 million Series A funding round, the corporate exclusively told TechCrunch.
Renegade Partners led Ansa’s recent financing, which included participation from existing backers Bain Capital Ventures, BoxGroup and Wischoff Ventures, in addition to latest investor B37 Ventures. With this latest capital increase, Ansa has raised a complete of just about $20 million in enterprise capital a seed round valued at $5.4 million. The company declined to reveal its current valuation, saying only the Series A was raised “at a significant valuation multiple.”
Particularly female investors – including Renata Quintini of Renegade Partners, Nichole Wischoff of Wischoff Ventures and Bain Capital Christina Melas-Kyriazi from BoxGroup Nimi Katragadda and former Affirm manager Silvija Martincevic – The company said it contributed 95.6% of the Series A round.
Founded in 2022 by former Adyen product manager Sophia Goldberg and former Affirm software engineer JT Cho, San Francisco-based Ansa is constructing a so-called white-label digital wallet infrastructure to assist businesses process small payments and settle high bank card fees to support smaller transactions.
Or as Goldberg describes it: Ansa is constructing a “wallet-as-a-service” or embedded customer credit to enable each merchant to introduce a brand-specific, flexible payment instrument.
This can appear like Starbucks’ in-app payment experience, where a customer tops up money. It can even allow a merchant to finance through incentives or refunds. Ansa claims that by utilizing its API-first platform, a merchant can create a wallet “in weeks rather than quarters.”
“Branded customer wallets enable merchants to offer a payment solution that better fits their use cases while increasing customer loyalty and frequency,” CEO Goldberg told TechCrunch. “In addition, retailers can increase their revenue streams and strengthen customer loyalty. With Ansa, merchants can drive wallet adoption by integrating customer credit with rewards, incentives and other loyalty initiatives.”
As its first core markets, Ansa is concentrating on the coffee, quick-service restaurants (QSR) and marketplace sectors. Retail and convenience stores are other goal markets.
Using a branded wallet also helps these merchants avoid paying bank card fees, which could be high, especially relative to the dollar amount of some purchases.
For example, Goldberg found that a $4 latte paid with a bank card can incur a further cost of greater than 12.5%. A typical eCommerce transaction is likely to be 2.9% and $0.30. The fixed fee is amazingly effective for smaller transactions, Goldberg claims, since it represents the next percentage when the transaction size is smaller.
“A 30 cent fee on a $5 transaction represents a higher percentage of total sales and has a greater impact on margins than on a $100 transaction,” Goldberg added. “For merchants with low margins, these fixed fees can significantly reduce sales.”
Photo credit: Ansa
In the primary quarter of 2024, Goldberg said the startup doubled its customer base in comparison with the previous yr, but declined to disclose specific customer or revenue numbers.
Ansa monetizes through a mixture of platform fees and a markup on the transaction.
“We are part infrastructure, part revenue generator, and so we charge based on service and value,” Goldberg said.
The funds will largely flow into product development and engineering. The company currently employs 12 people and is hiring latest employees.
Renegade Partners’ Quintini told TechCrunch that her company’s investment in Ansa represents its largest first check thus far.
“Because Ansa is integrated with most modern PSPs (payment service providers), including Square, Stripe and Braintree, new merchants can onboard immediately to increase both loyalty and operational efficiency,” she told TechCrunch, adding that the Technology helps “every merchant” provide their customers with a seamless, Starbucks app-like experience.”
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