Payments startup Omise joins wave of digital-coin fundraising

(March 31); Omise, a Bangkok-based startup backed by Japan’s SBI Investment, plans to raise as much as US$16 million ($22.4 million) selling digital tokens as it builds a new payment service based on blockchain technology.

Prospective investors can use ether, the digital currency linked to Ethereum, to gain the tokens, which will give them a share of fee revenue from the Omise Go payments platform the company is developing. The so-called crowdsale, which works in a similar way to crowdfunding, will kick off in May and the new payments service is scheduled for the fourth quarter, Chief Executive Officer Jun Hasegawa said.

Crowdsales have mainly been used by small crypto-currency outfits. The financing model raised US$240 million in 2016, according to Outlier Ventures, which tracks the blockchain industry. While that’s a fraction of the US$34.4 billion it estimates startups raised through conventional crowdfunding in 2015, Omise’s move signals that venture-backed startups are now turning to the new model for funds.

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