Alta raises $47.5 million Series A to build a blockchain for financial institutions

Alta, a startup building blockchain infrastructure for banks and payment companies, raised $47.5 million in fresh funding in a Series A round. 

The Series A was led by Index Ventures and brings Alta's total funding, including $32.5 million in seed funding, to $80 million. 

GV, Blackbird Ventures, Square Peg, and Capital 49 also participated in the round, the startup said Tuesday. 

Alta is developing a blockchain with built-in privacy and compliance controls, features it says that existing networks struggle with.

"Existing blockchains aren’t designed for the privacy and compliance requirements of global financial institutions," co-founder and CEO Loong Wang said.

Payments company Airwallex has signed on as an early partner. The companies plan to connect Alta's blockchain to Airwallex's payment network that can handle stablecoin transfers and access to local fiat payment networks.

Alta said its first product will help businesses reduce the cash held in prefunded accounts through just-in-time funding, while allowing them to move idle cash into yield-bearing tokenized assets.

The funding will go toward blockchain development, additional financial partnerships, and hiring engineers and compliance experts. Alta did not disclose a valuation.