Noah raises $22 million in seed funding to build its global stablecoin payment network

Stablecoin infrastructure platform Noah has raised $22 million in a seed funding round led by London-based venture capital firm LocalGlobe, the project announced on Tuesday.

Felix Capital and FJ Labs also participated in the round alongside angel investors including Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, former Unity CEO David Helgason, and former Adyen CTO Alexander Matthey.

Noah plans to use the capital to build out its global stablecoin payment network — a regulated fintech service that provides a bridge between fiat and stablecoins via web and mobile apps, according to its website .

The announcement coincides with confirmation of previously undisclosed news that Thijn Lamers, another former executive at fintech giant Adyen, has joined Noah as co-founder and president, Fortune first reported .

Fellow Noah co-founder and CEO Shah Ramezani, a former UBS analyst, declined to disclose the startup's valuation but, referring to Lamers' decades of experience, told the outlet, "there was a Thijn premium."

Noah claims to have processed more than $1 billion in transaction volumes so far, enabling users to convert between 50 currencies and transfer money across 70 countries in real-time.

Competitive stablecoin infrastructure field

Noah is taking on a competitive stablecoin infrastructure field, including Stripe's recent $1.1 billion acquisition of  Bridge to power its new stablecoin-powered money management system, alongside more crypto-native stablecoin startups such as Bleap ,  Plasma, and Atticus . Other major payment incumbents, such as  Visa  and  Mastercard,  are also developing their stablecoin strategies. Meanwhile, firms like  Uber ,  Apple, X, Airbnb, and Google  are among those exploring their options with the technology, following the successful IPO of USDC issuer  Circle .

Lamers and Ramezani told Fortune that their edge comes from a network of relationships they have built, including those with big tech executives, regulators, and banking partners.

"We're really building 'Noah's ark' to save everyone from the mass currency inflation," Ramezani said.