CashAbroad is building a cross-border payment platform for Businesses in LATAM. A percentage of the fees from these payments will be allocated towards supporting public goods and community projects including schools, hospitals, and community centers; thus infrastructure and future growth of these areas.
WebsiteWe started out wanting to improve businesses in Latin America and how they connect with international merchants and vendors in a way that was fast, reliable, and affordable. Our journey started just days before the hackathon of Stellar & Techstars in Mexico City, where we learned about Web 3 technology and its potential for Latin America. From there, we participated in another hackathon, this time online, which was organized by a Blockchain incubator and involved different Latin American countries. There, we were one of the winners.
We then formally applied to the “Blockchain Academy Chile incubator” (now known as Colledge) and were selected after numerous interviews and revisions. The incubator program lasted for four months, during which we worked on different aspects of our business alongside other startups and our mentors. After the program, we applied for a Stellar Community grant and were awarded a grant of 10k. This allowed us to incorporate our business, start a team, and set an office space in the garage where we work full-time.
Despite facing several challenges and obstacles, including technical hurdles, regulatory compliance, and fundraising, we persevered. We closed a partnership deal with a technology university that has multiple locations in Mexico, specifically working alongside Coatzacoalcos Campus. We recruited one marketing person and four developers, starting with the developer team in January. We integrated Wyre for our MVP, although we needed to restart that part of the integration due to Wyre problems. We launched along the way our website and social media channels. We then participated and were selected as winners of the SCF#13.
Some of the hurdles we have had regarding users was to start with just a market, at the beginning we wante to do many markets, but until we actually started talking and interviewing potential customers we better understood what they truly care about, that's why we decided to focus completely on B2B. and from that we have been drilling down business size, and industry, allowing us to truly build an ICP and to build and improve the product around their needs.
CashAbroad uses the Stellar Anchors network to on-ramp FIAT to crypto to a USDC master wallet, then a smart contract built on the Soroban platform distributes the money via on-chain transactions to three different wallets allocating a percentage fee for public goods, the recipient and the CashAbroad wallet. Building on top of Stellar provide us with realtime, almost zero cost on-chain transactions and allow us to use the Stellar Anchors protocols (SEP´s) to build a payment experience that can be replicated with all the Anchors of the network in different countries, maintaining security and trust in the payment process.
Furthermore, this strong foundation allows us to seamlessly integrate with the Soroban smart contract platform, enabling us to build the logic to distribute funds within the blockchain. With all these, we confidently offer additional business functionalities such as automatic payments, mass payments, roles and approvals, invoice/request, and WhatsApp status updates.
We are absolutely thrilled with our experience so far! Working with such talented individuals has helped us grow in so many ways - as a team, in our individual areas of expertise, and as a company.
We love being a part of the Stellar community. Our journey with Stellar began in Mexico City, and even though we were living in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz at the time, we knew we had to attend the Stellar + Techstar Startup weekend. It was a long drive of 12 hours, but we made it and it was well worth it. During the Startup Camp, we met so many amazing people and were thrilled to be finalists. After that, Anuxhya encouraged us to participate in the SCF#10, which we did. Although we made it as candidates in the SCF#10, we didn't win. But we didn't give up. We tried again in the SCF#11 and were over the moon to be one of the winners! We have also participated in both Startup Camps and in the Sorobathon. Currently we are winners of the SCF#13.
SCF Startup Camp Spring 2023
We joined SCF Startup Camp to boost our company's creativity, develop a solution and test it with users in just 5 days. We also wanted to connect with like-minded individuals who could offer valuable feedback and improve our company.Our experience was amazing! Five members of our team worked on testing a concept for funding public goods using fees from cross-border payments. We enjoyed the Lightning Demos and the Four Step Sketch, where we quickly sketched ideas and designed screens to propose a solution.During this Startup Camp, we coded a lot and were thrilled with the support we received from the community using Stellar and Soroban smart contract platforms.
The Stellar team was awesome in helping us implement our ideas on their platform.Finally, the meet-and-greet spaces were great for relaxing and getting to know the mentors and company founders. It was an absolutely great 360-degree experience! We feel that one key element of the Stellar Community Fund is the feeling of urgency it creates, which is a huge boost to our daily work! We also think it was a genius strategic decision to add the Proof of Intent and the new award structure and timeline because it keeps everyone on track and improves accountability for all projects.😎
CashAbroad uses the Stellar Anchors network to on-ramp FIAT to crypto to a USDC master wallet, then a smart contract built on the Soroban platform distributes the money via on-chain transactions to three different wallets allocating a percentage fee for public goods, the recipient and the CashAbroad wallet. Building on top of Stellar provide us with realtime, almost zero cost on-chain transactions and allow us to use the Stellar Anchors protocols (SEP´s) to build a payment experience that can be replicated with all the Anchors of the network in different countries, maintaining security and trust in the payment process.
Furthermore, this strong foundation allows us to seamlessly integrate with the Soroban smart contract platform, enabling us to build the logic to distribute funds within the blockchain. With all these, we confidently offer additional business functionalities such as automatic payments, mass payments, roles and approvals, invoice/request, and WhatsApp status updates.
Ruth Gomez Hidalgo, CEO of CashAbroad
I have a strong background in digital marketing, branding, and product design delivering results on customer acquisition, sales, and campaign management for millions of users. In companies such as Sony and Telmex
Braulio Ramirez Montiel, CTO of CashAbroad
I have experience at companies like Telmex and Walmart, Braulio has nine years of experience leading, developing, and deploying digital products.
CashAbroad is the 1st smart platform to leverage the liquidity of B2B payments and family remittances to fund Public Goods.
View submissionCashabroad helps businesses do abroad payments as easy as with locals, with low-cost and instant transactions.
View submissionDisclaimer: The SCF Startup Camp finalists (collectively, “SCF Finalists”) are selected based on set criteria and are assessed by a selection panel composed of employees of Stellar Development Foundation (“SDF”) and DFS Lab (“DFS Lab”), as well as community members selected by SDF and/or DFS Lab to participate on such selection panel (collectively, “Panel Members”). While the Panel Members have sought to evaluate SCF Finalists as part of the SCF Startup Camp, none of SDF, DFS Lab, or the Panel Members makes any claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the submissions made by such SCF Finalists. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose is given by SDF, DFS Lab, or any Panel Member. Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by SDF or DFS Lab. Nothing herein should be construed as financial, legal, or investment advice. If you choose to interact with any SCF Startup Camp Finalist, you should ensure you understand the technology, the assets, and that you are aware of the risks involved in such operations.
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