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Businesses that move money across borders now stitch together separate providers for accounts, payments, identity checks and compliance, and every handoff between them leaves a gap in who owns the funds and who can move them. That fragmentation costs more each year as stablecoin payments roughly doubled in 2025 to about $390B and software agents begin to initiate transactions that people once approved by hand. Mural builds the compliant system of record that closes those gaps, putting accounts, payments, identity, permissions and compliance on a single record. The company holds the licenses, works directly with sponsor banks and runs compliance in-house, while forward-deployed engineers work alongside customers, so fintechs, payroll providers, and software platforms can launch in new markets without assembling every banking relationship themselves. Since launching its API in January 2025, Mural has processed $2.1B in payments across 128 countries, and its 2026 volume already runs nearly six times the 2025 total. Customers include Deel, Opera, and axexo. AlleyWatch sat down with Mural Cofounder and CEO Sinclair Toffa to learn more about the business, its future plans, recent funding round, and much, much more… Who were your investors and how much did you raise? We raised a $15M Series A led by Tether, with participation from North Island Ventures, bringing our total funding to $28M. Tell us about the product or service that Mural offers. Mural is the compliant system of record for fintechs and platforms building financial products. We bring accounts, payments, identity, permissions and compliance together, so businesses can offer financial services globally while keeping a clear record of who owns the money, who can move it and under what conditions. What inspired the start of Mural? When I was 15, I visited Togo, where my grandfather is from, and learned that relatives receiving money from the U.S. could wait weeks and pay fees as high as 20%. Years later at Palantir, I saw how fragmented systems created similar inefficiencies for large companies. Chris and I founded Mural to make moving money globally simpler and more accessible. How is Mural different? Most financial products rely on separate providers for accounts, payments and compliance which creates complexity and gaps in accountability. Mural brings these functions together on one record, with permissions and compliance built directly into the account layer. We also run compliance in-house and work directly with sponsor banks, so customers can expand across markets without managing every banking relationship and compliance process themselves. What market does Mural target and how big is it? We serve fintechs, payroll providers and software platforms building financial products, particularly those operating across borders. More and more businesses are bringing payments and financial services directly into their products, creating demand for infrastructure that can support accounts, money movement and compliance across markets. As AI agents begin making financial decisions on behalf of customers, that opportunity will expand further, particularly around identity, permissions and accountability. What’s your business model? We provide financial infrastructure that fintechs and platforms can build on, allowing them to offer accounts, payments and other financial capabilities without developing the underlying systems themselves. Customers pay a monthly platform fee for access to Mural, plus usage-based fees that depend on which modules they use and how much money moves through them. For our yield product, which lets customers offer rewards on balances, we share the revenue with the customer. Platforms can also add their own fees on top of ours, so Mural becomes a revenue line for them, not just a cost. How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown? When budgets tighten, companies become much more selective about what they build themselves. Financial infrastructure is expensive to develop and maintain, particularly when you’re operating across multiple countries. Our focus is on helping customers expand their financial products without taking on that cost and operational complexity internally. What was the funding process like? The best part of the process was that our traction and success was incredible. We launched our API in January 2025, and since then we’ve processed $2.1B in payments and grown volume six times year over year. Tether came to us through a customer introduction and brought a global footprint across Latin America, Asia and Europe. North Island Ventures brought deep roots in regulated finance. We wanted partners who could open doors, not just write a check, and we found both. What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital? The process came down to finding the right partners. We were deliberate about who we brought on, because the investors around the table shape how fast you can grow and where. Our focus was finding people who understood that the hard, slow work of licensing, compliance and banking relationships is the foundation of the business. In Tether and North Island Ventures, we found partners who saw that and could open doors around the world. That made the decision easy. What factors about your business led your investors to write the check? We’ve processed $2.1 billion in payments for end users across 128 countries, and our 2026 volume is already nearly six times what we processed in all of 2025. I think investors recognized the scale of the problem and the traction we’ve already demonstrated. Chris and I have been able to use our experience from Palantir connecting fragmented systems and applying that experience to money, where permissions and accountability will become even more important as AI agents begin transacting on behalf of businesses. What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months? We’re focused on expanding across the Americas, strengthening our regulatory and payments infrastructure. That starts with hiring more talent. We’re about 30 people today, and we plan to grow two to three times, hiring forward-deployed engineers, engineers, compliance, sales, business development and marketing, including country managers in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. Hiring is the thing I think about most, because the people we bring on will set how fast we grow. In addition to that, we are always looking for opportunities to partner and grow with existing and new customers. A combination of these two focuses will help us win in the next 6 to 12 months. What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank? Focus on solving a problem customers genuinely need fixed. Funding can help accelerate growth, but it doesn’t replace real demand. Where do you see the company going now over the near term? We want Mural to become the financial infrastructure that fintechs and platforms build on as they expand globally. We’re starting with the problems businesses face today, from managing payments across countries to navigating different banking and compliance systems. Over time, that same foundation will need to support a much larger number of financial participants, including AI agents acting on behalf of people and businesses. What’s your favorite fall destination in and around the city? The Hudson Valley is by far one of my favorite fall destinations in New York. I head up there for tai chi and meditation. The leaves are turning, the air gets crisp, and everything slows down in a way the city never does. I got into breathing work back at Palantir, when the pace of the work had me looking for a way to reset, and it’s resonated with me ever since.
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