Stably
Traditional banks and payment providers are slow, expensive, hard-to-access and antiquated. As a result, Stably are helping companies build their own digital money through Stably’s regulated stablecoin-as-a-service platform. Stably’s solution allows you and your customers to unbank from traditional financial rails, cut down transaction time, lower cost, unlock new revenue channels, access liquidity, enhance brand image and customer loyalty as well as generate new user insights from blockchain data.
Stably maintain a competitive advantage over other tokenization-as-a-service companies as they are much leaner and nimbler than they are. Stably can move quickly and experiment with many things, including innovative and unconventional approaches, a lot more efficiently than they can.
COVID-19 has posed a significant challenge as Stably’s clients are located all over the world. Their business is driven by B2B/enterprise deals and, as these deals typically take a while to close, the average length of their sales cycles has increased without the ability to hold meetings in person. Coupled with having team members located in different parts of the world, doing business in general has been quite difficult now that global flights are riskier and severely limited.
While overcoming these new obstacles, Stably has put the health and safety of their team members first. Everyone at Stably outside of Vietnam has been working from home since February. Somewhat fortunately for the team, Vietnamese authorities have done well in combating COVID-19 and have kept the country practically COVID-free. More than half of the Stably team is located at their Ho Chi Minh City office so Stably has mostly managed to avoid bearing the brunt of the crisis. They are also adjusting their prospecting and sales process to accommodate remote meetings more effectively. They are also creating Telegram or WhatsApp groups for every single lead/client/partner they work with in order to constantly stay in touch with them. While they may not be available in person any more, most of the Stably team are usually online to help colleagues and customers alike solve any problems they face.
Stably’s model product, USDS, is a regulated USD-backed stablecoin integrated with Binance, the world’s largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange, as well as various other platforms like Bittrex (CEX), Coinhako (P2P), Kyber Network (DEX), Constant (lending), CoinGate (payments), Transak (fiat ramp), Abra (wallet) and Prime Trust (custodian). Their current enterprise client portfolio includes various brands of stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies (e.g. USD, CAD, VND, PHP) and even precious metals (e.g. gold, silver)
Traction
Stably have raised close to $3M through three funding rounds and increased their valuation fivefold since 2018. The has grown apace, now consisting of 15+ members located across the US, Vietnam and India. They have managed to acquire 1,500+ users and 5 major enterprise clients as part of their portfolio. Their inbound enterprise leads have grown from less than 10 in 2019 to 20+ in just Q1 2020.
Stably are on track to tokenize $300M-400M in assets for enterprise clients within 24 months. They have acquired 100+ partners globally ranging from crypto exchanges, lending platforms, OTC dealers and market makers to auditors, law firms and media/PR companies. They are now working with Washington State regulators to explore the possibility of becoming a regulated financial institution.
Team
Kory Hoang, Founder, CEO, Board Chairman – Prior to Stably, Kory was a Data Analyst at PitchBook in Seattle where he picked up the ABCs of venture capital fundraising. On the side, Kory is also an active algorithmic trader who has advised many hedge funds on various topics ranging from quantitative trading, momentum and mean-reversion strategies to VIX derivatives and cryptocurrencies. Since 2018, he has led his company through 3 venture funding rounds, secured all major business deals for Stably and grown his team from just 4 members initially to 15+ today. Kory holds a BBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Washington Bothell.
David Zhang, Founder, CTO, Board Director – Prior to Stably, David was a Software Engineer at Amazon in Seattle where he specialized in machine learning and predictive analytics. Similar to Kory, David also trades VIX derivatives and cryptocurrencies on the side using automated algorithms that incorporate machine learning techniques. In fact it was this interest which brought Stably’s founders together in 2016. He has been the main technology leader at Stably and has spearheaded the development of all of its products as well as supporting infrastructure. David holds a BS in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Brown University.
Funding
Stably are seeking $10M in Series A funding in 2021. This future Series A funding will help Stably become a US regulated financial institution, build an in-house compliance department, develop new infrastructure and products, grow the team to 60+ members as well as expand their growth effort to generate 8-figure revenue by 2024 before they look to raise a Series B round.
Right now, they need to hire more software developers in order to increase their development capacity. They plan to hire 3-4 more senior developers and 2-3 product managers in Seattle as well as up to 10 more developers in Ho Chi Minh City over the next 24 months. They also plan to hire more compliance, operations, and sales people in 2021. Some of this will be contingent upon their next Series A funding round and whether or not they achieve their goal of becoming a US regulated financial institution.
Revenue Model
Stably works with regulated and blockchain/crypto-friendly financial institutions such as banks and trust companies who have open APIs to build products/services on top of. They provide Stably with back-end operational services such as funds custody and processing, KYC/AML screening, and tax reporting under their regulatory licenses. Stably then builds products/services under their brand, or their enterprise clients’ brands, and helps the regulated partners acquire business in the forms of deposits (e.g. cash, crypto) and transactions (e.g. transfers, payments, trading).
Their current stablecoin-as-a-service/tokenization-as-a-service offerings include tokens backed by fiat currencies, precious metals, other commodities (stablecoins/commodity tokens) and soon in the future, real estate, debt and equity (security tokens).
They also offer Stably Prime, a borderless account that can support both fiat and digital currencies. Stably Prime users can securely store USD and digital assets as well as send/receive money to/from anyone in the world via stablecoins. Users can also buy/sell/trade cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and precious metal tokens with top-notch execution and prices using Stably Prime.
Stably and their regulated partners generate revenue from 5 primary sources:
– Deposit Interest Revenue: they earn interest income from fiat deposits that back stablecoins as well as client deposits in the Stably Prime borderless accounts. The interest is mostly generated from placing the cash in money market securities or FDIC-insured cash.
– Crypto Lending Interest Revenue: they can share interest income from lending platforms who they partner with to offer crypto lending/borrowing services for Stably Prime clients.
– Transaction Fee Revenue: For stablecoins, they can charge stablecoin issuance/redemption fees. For Stably Prime, they can charge deposit/withdrawal fees and trading fees.
– Licensing Fee Revenue: For enterprise clients who are looking to build their own stablecoins and/or white label other Stably products, Stably charge software licensing fees.
– Revenue Sharing: Stably can also negotiate ongoing revenue sharing of other income sources unique to their enterprise clients’ own ecosystems and business models.
Details
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