Clear raises $ 13M to reduce friction between companies on the blockchain

The blockchain startup Clear, based in Singapore, wants to tackle the "incredible amount of friction" of business to business (B2B). This ambition is of interest to telecoms players, who have participated in the fundraising of $ 13 million of the company.

Exploit corporate blockchain technologies and smart contracts programmable (smart contracts) to automate the business-to-business (B2B) : this is the business positioning of the startup Clear.

The company has just completed a fundraising (series A) of $ 13 million. Alongside the fund Eight Roads several large telecom operators participated through their investment vehicles. It is Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom, Singtel and HKT (Hong Kong Telecom).

Reduce transaction costs between international operators

The participation of these telecommunications manufacturers is obviously not by chance. The first customers of the blockchain solution Clear are indeed operators, among which Colt, Orange and Telstra.

Use cases in this sector aim to digitize and simplify transactions and payments between global players.

It was essential to establish that the settlement of international voice transactions by blockchain could be done on a multilateral basis and in a secure environment capable of managing the rapid pace of transactions between operators, ”comments an executive officer of Orange on the subject. of the project with Clear.

Reduce friction in B2B relationships, especially paymentsis the heart of the value proposition of Clear with the blockchain. These frictions in international trade generate for intermediaries, including banks, revenues estimated at 140 billion dollars. And as many additional costs for the companies concerned.

The sums that companies spend to process these payments, manage associated contracts, check data and invoices each month, deploy and manage the software to process these operations, represent several times the value of these costs, which amount to trillion dollars each year worldwide, ”said a spokesperson for the startup.

In response, Clear therefore offers functions to automate a number of B2B processes in order to reduce transaction costs and human errors, but also to offer instant cross-border payments.

Thanks to this fundraising, Clear plans to strengthen its teams (30 people) and develop its operator clientele. The startup also plans to tackle other sectors, including energy and financial services.