Former Cash App engineer gets $3m for Ottr

Ottr, a Solana-based DeFi wallet that aims to make it easier for the average Joe to buy and transfer crypto, raised $3.1 million in funding led by Race Capital.

Why it matters: Wallets like MetaMask and Phantom underpin the Web3 economy, but come with a significant learning curve. Ottr is trying to lower that barrier to entry.

Background: CEO Aleksei Zakharov previously worked as a senior engineering manager building out Cash App’s crypto operations.

• Cash App started out as a peer-to-peer payments network and used that to attract customers.
• While wallets generally charge a gas fee to transfer crypto, like Cash App, Ottr isn’t charging for peer-to-peer payments on the platform.
• Zakharov sees it as a necessary customer acquisition cost that will allow Ottr to offer revenue generating products (for example products that earn yield) later down the road.
• Similar to Venmo and Cash App, users are searchable using usernames rather than the long and complex wallet addresses widely used in crypto.

What they’re saying: While wallets like Phantom and MetaMask act as a gateway for users to find other lending or trading apps, Zakharov envisions a super app where users stay inside its walls.

• “Customers have to do a self-exploration journey where they go to different decentralized apps and experiment with their money,” he says of existing crypto wallets. “With Ottr, [we see ourselves as] more of a super app, where you just have the set of financial services that you’re just looking for.”

The bigger picture: By building itself as a non-custodial, DeFi wallet, Ottr is able to launch more quickly into new geographies than centralized players like Cash App.

• Ottr, which had a soft launch a few weeks ago, is now live in over 70 countries. That could give it an edge in the future as a remittances product especially in countries with unstable currencies, notes Race Capital’s Chris McCann.

Of note: Other investors in the round include Circle Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Kamal Ravikant.

Yes, but: For a crypto wallet billed for non-crypto savvy folks, Ottr doesn’t yet connect directly to bank accounts. Though the company is currently working on that integration.