Ping, a payment platform for freelancers and gig workers, plans to add new employees after securing $15 million in new financing.
The startup's seed funding round was backed by an array of investors, including venture capital firm Goat Capital and Y Combinator, a startup accelerator that helped launched major tech brands including Reddit, Airbnb and Coinbase.
The platform makes it easier for workers to get paid in dollars or cryptocurrency and then transfer their salaries to local currency in a cost-effective way. It's a solution for digital nomads in particular, a term for remote workers who can travel while still earning a living.
Co-founder and CEO Pablo Orlando said gig economy websites like Upwork could potentially offer Ping to their to users.
"We established a platform that ultimately helps democratize access to higher paid jobs as a result of remote work," he said.
The seed funding will be allocated toward hiring, marketing and sales, according to a news release. The company currently has a team of 40 based in Miami and Argentina.
Founded in 2021, Ping was originally started to facilitate payments in Latin America. In addition to Orlando, the startup's founding team includes brother and sister Jack Saracco and Mary Saracco.
With Ping, a person or organization can create a free account in U.S. dollars and then instantly receive bank transfers in either foreign currency or cryptocurrency. The platform has an invoicing system that enables users to send invoices directly to their employers, a tool for freelancers who need to bill clients. Users can also buy and receive cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum through the payment service.
It's unclear how many people actually want to be paid in cryptocurrency. In a survey released in March, fintech SoFi Technologies reported as many as 36% of employees wanted the ability to receive all or part of their paycheck in digital assets. But that may have changed as cryptocurrencies lost more than $1 trillion in value in May and June and has not yet recovered.
Goat Capital General Partner Robin Chan said Ping's service is "the first of its kind for Latin America."
"[It] efficiently remedies ongoing payment issues with a mission to provide financial inclusivity on a global scale,” Chan added.
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