Kashimi, a Lithuanian startup building alternative payment infrastructure for licensed financial institutions, has raised $1.36 million in pre-seed funding.
The round was co-led by Coinvest Capital and U.S.-based Impellent Ventures, with participation from Plug and Play Tech Center and several international angel investors. Coinvest Capital’s contribution totaled nearly $750,000.
Kashimi plans to expand its presence across Europe and the UK, where open banking adoption has accelerated in recent years, and establish a foothold in the U.S. market. The company has already begun early steps toward U.S. entry and will join Plug and Play’s six-week Global Overseas Acceleration and Learning program in Silicon Valley this year.
“Alternative payment methods, which started to appear in Europe and the UK following the introduction and implementation of Open Banking regulations seven years ago, are finally gaining momentum” said co-founder and CEO Benas Pavlauskas. “The U.S. is introducing a similar concept and actively promoting the development.”
Phil Beauregard, managing general partner at Impellent Ventures, called the Kashimi team “some of the most innovative and experienced thinkers and tinkerers in the space” and said the firm is eager to back its efforts to scale.
Coinvest Capital CEO Viktorija Trimbel added that demand for alternative payments is surging on both sides of the Atlantic: “Merchants are eager to adopt new payment methods, and customers want to control their spending while feeling secure. Kashimi payment initiation infrastructure stands out for its convenience and completeness.”
Founded less than a year ago, Kashimi has a 10-person engineering team focused on open banking integrations and has already begun work with its first clients. Plug and Play Lithuania director Povilas Žinys said Kashimi demonstrates how Lithuanian technology can compete globally, adding that the accelerator expects the GOAL program to strengthen the company’s international expansion.
