Sila raises $7.7 million to make ACH payments programmable

Sila, the banking and API payment platform set up by former Simple co-founder Shamir Karkal, has closed a $7.7 million seed funding round. The round is co-led by VC firms Madrona Venture Group and Oregon Venture Fund, with support from Mucker Capital, 99 Tartans, Taavet Kinrikus, CEO & Co-founder of Transferwise, and investor & entrepreneur Jerry Neumann. Sila launched its Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform in April 2019 to help companies integrate their business applications with financial networks. The firm's REST APIs provide a layer on top of the existing ACH network, with applications for identity/KYC verification, bank account linking, and digital wallet deposits baked in. The API includes a built-in stablecoin - Sila - which is an ERC-20 token pegged 100:1 to the US Dollar, with fully insured funds held by an FDIC member bank. The coin supplants fiat for the purpose of money movement, settling transactions within minutes rather than the two-day timeline on the US ACH network.