Amit Jain, former head of Uber’s Asia Pacific division, stated on Monday that his new enterprise, Zamp Finance, has secured $21.7 million in seed funding.

Zamp Finance simplifies the method for companies to speculate their extra capital in US Treasury payments, offering a hedge towards financial institution failures and different uncertainties. The US-registered startup’s seed spherical was led by Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, with participation from a lot of high-profile executives together with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, former SoftBank chief working officer Marcelo Claure and Doordash chief govt Tony Xu.

TechCrunch reported concerning the funding talks in Might. Jain left Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, the place he served as a associate, final yr.

Zamp gives a treasury administration platform that allows companies worldwide to speculate surplus money in U.S. Treasury payments and notes, partnering with BNY Mellon Pershing, which manages over $2 trillion. Whereas the platform serves companies of all sizes, it doesn’t cater to people. US Treasury Payments are thought to be a protected funding, as they’re backed by the total religion and credit score of the U.S. authorities, has excessive liquidity, predictable yield and tax advantages.

“Our prospects, and quite a lot of them are startups, should not on the lookout for a selected yield or need to speculate with the money they’ve. They’re on the lookout for methods to maintain their money protected in a means that protects them from dangers associated to forex or establishment,” stated Jain in an interview.

Jain. Picture credit: Sequoia India

Zamp has a number of attraction: It eases a agency’s entry to monetary devices and serves as a company treasurer, permitting companies to maintain concentrate on their core operations. Zamp’s prospects get brokerage accounts with BNY Mellon, which means that their funds stay segregated from these of different prospects.

Zamp declined to disclose what number of prospects it has, however famous that greater than 100 companies signed up in two weeks following the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank.

“If all of your cash is in a financial institution, you then’re topic to the dangers of the financial institution. It’s not one thing that individuals thought a lot about earlier, however clearly has been within the information for the previous few weeks. Now an more and more rising variety of founders are enthusiastic about diversification of money into a number of financial institution accounts,” Jain stated.

Zamp plans so as to add extra monetary devices over time. Jain stated the startup has evaluated a number of sovereign funds and company bonds, however he asserted that whether or not Zamp gives them to prospects depends upon their suggestions and demand.