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Global Venmo for cross border payments
Blaze (YC S24) is global Venmo for cross border payments. It's a peer to peer payments app that uses USDC to make payments fast and cheap between any two people anywhere in the world. The founders scaled their last startup to $1M in ARR, studied mathematics and engineering at Duke, NYU, and Cornell, and have led teams at Spotify, Artsy, and Bitpanda. They're live in the US and Mexico, available for download on iOS and Android: https://blaze.money
Blaze positions itself as a cross-border money platform built for individuals and businesses, offering AI-assisted finance and a single account to send, spend, and hold digital dollars across 50+ countries. The service emphasizes instant settlement on stablecoin rails, virtual accounts, and developer-focused API access for virtual accounts and on/off-ramp services.
Blaze provides an AI-powered finance platform with two main use modes: for individuals (BlaZe for you) and for businesses (Blaze for businesses). It offers AI agents that handle payments, currency management, invoicing, virtual accounts, and cash flow, all connected to stablecoin rails (USDC) across 50+ countries. Developers can access an API infrastructure for virtual accounts and on/off ramp services to embed payment capabilities into platforms. Features include instant settlements, virtual accounts, KYC/AML compliance, data privacy, and a REST API with human-in-the-loop oversight. The platform supports sending dollars across borders with low fees and FX included, and provides a single app connecting to local payment networks, cards, and bank accounts worldwide without correspondent banks.
Who it’s for: Individuals (nomads, expats) and global businesses seeking cross-border payments and cash management, plus developers requiring payment APIs and virtual accounts.
Backed by Y Combinator; multiple mentions of developer resources and pricing, plus global reach and product onboarding prompts (Create Account, Get Started), indicating active product development and some traction.
Faiyam is a full-stack engineer with a bachelors in mathematics from Duke and a masters of engineering from Cornell Tech. He is now the cofounder and CEO of Blaze Payments. He is an avid traveler, most recently having completed a 6 month tour of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bali and Portugal. He is also an avid practitioner of yoga and meditation, and he enjoys long walks, the spoken word, and celebrating the joy of being alive.
Luc is a 2 time VC backed founder. His first startup, Often, launched a keyboard app that enabled you to text your friends with Drake lyrics. Upon launch, Often blew up to #1 on the App Store and got over 400k downloads. He scaled his second startup Seasons, a rental service for high end menswear to $1mm in ARR. Luc is a seasoned tech leader, having led teams at Artsy & Spotify. He is also an avid traveler, having lived and worked in over 50 countries worldwide.
Pay anyone, anywhere, seamlessly.
Blaze builds a cross-border payments app that functions like a global Venmo for users with international lifestyles, enabling peer-to-peer and bill payments abroad. The launch announces beta availability on iOS and Android and invites feedback, with a target to help users pay landlords, teachers, and other local vendors across countries.
USDC-Smart Neobank for Latinos.
Cross border Payments infrastructure for internet businesses and…
