The social payments app introduces peer-2-anywhere payments powered by the Lightning Network and enabled by Universal Money Addresses (UMA)

MIAMI, Aug. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ – Miami-based Bitcoin startup TMRW  announced it raised $1.3 million in a pre-seed funding round, led by Maple VC , with participation from prominent Bitcoin angel investors, including Brad Mills. They’re calling this Peer-2-Anywhere payments, leveraging Universal Money Addresses (UMA), an open payment standard built on the Lightning Network. UMA allows anyone to send and receive money 24/7 using their favorite UMA-enabled wallet, exchange, or bank. It’s like an email address but for money. TMRW is partnering with Lightspark  to support cross-border USD payments over the Lightning Network for US customers.

Traditional cross-border remittances are a second-class experience compared sending payments via apps like Venmo or CashApp. TMRW allows users to add text, or images to payments, react, and share their Bitcoin purchases with friends. The startup aims to help newcomers by helping them peek into the lives of their Bitcoin-using friends via the timeline and sending to anyone in the world.

“One of the few things that bitcoiners agree on is we need more bitcoiners in the world,” said Alexandra Lutchman, co-founder of TMRW. The biggest hurdle was showing how Bitcoin worked and why it was beneficial to anyone. TMRW shows what bitcoin has already done for me and what possibilities are unlocked for my global friends and families.”

The founders, Ari Ramdial and Alexandra Lutchman, previously co-founded Knox Custody in 2017, the first fully-insured Bitcoin company, raising $7M in a seed round co-led by Initialized Capital and iNovia, with participation from Fidelity.

“The ambition to help people who live in dual currency regimes, like the Caribbean (where my family is originally from), have an alternative way to instantly access cash (ie. USD) in real-life, really captured my imagination. The founders’ insight of connecting cash to the internet by using bitcoin as rails for global money is revolutionary. Having founders with first hand experience who grew up in this target market and have the skills to bring this idea to fruition is very special.” – Andre Charoo , MapleVC

TMRW aims to use the funding to expand into the US market, as well as make both bitcoin and fiat features available internationally. The team is currently running pilots in the Caribbean, the mobile app is now available in beta for iOS users.

SOURCE TMRW App