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How Arcvest Raised $3.8M in 41 Days to Build the Crypto Bank

  • Web3
  • Seed
$3.8M

Total Raised

41 Days

Time to Close

14

Investors

About

Andre and Lewis had a bold vision: build the first AI-powered crypto bank that combines stablecoin savings, zero-KYC trading, and global payments in one app. The market was massive: 50M+ global freelancers losing money on wire fees, 200M+ migrants paying 3-5% on remittances, and 420M crypto users wanting privacy without complexity.

They had a working MVP (beta app with custodial savings + DEX), 250 beta users in 6 weeks, $80K in deposits, and 78% 30-day retention. Clear product-market fit, but zero investor connections.

The Challenge

Andre and Lewis weren’t Stanford grads. They didn’t have Sand Hill Road connections. They tried cold-emailing VCs for 6 weeks, sent 150+ emails, got 3 responses. All passed. They were running out of time.

  • No investor network whatsoever
  • Complex product combining banking + DEX + payments + AI automation
  • First-time founders who had never raised institutional capital
  • Competitive space where investors kept asking ‘Aren’t you just another Revolut clone?’
  • Beta users asking for features, needed capital before momentum died
How Swyft Fundr Helped

Week 1-2: Strategic Repositioning

The original pitch led with tech: “We use account abstraction, custodial wallets, and smart contract DEXs.” Investors’ eyes glazed over. Swyft Fundr helped reframe the entire narrative.

Old pitch: “We’re building a hybrid custody crypto platform with AI automation”

New pitch: “We’re the Revolut of crypto for the 2 billion people excluded from traditional banking”

The full fundraising package was built: a 16-slide pitch deck repositioned as a “financial inclusion” story, a 3-year financial model showing path to $26M ARR, a clean SAFE cap table structure, and both a one-pager and executive summary.

Week 3-4: Investor Matching

Matched to 18 investors from the pre-committed pool: 6 fintech VCs (firms that backed Wise, Revolut, Chime), 8 crypto VCs (firms that backed Uniswap, Compound, dYdX), and 4 angels (ex-operators from Coinbase, Stripe, PayPal, Revolut). Conversion: 18 matched, 14 took meetings, 9 showed strong interest, 5 soft commitments, 2 term sheets.

Week 5-6: Closing

Fintech VC offered $2M at $12M post-money. Crypto VC offered $1.8M as co-lead. Swyft Fundr advised on negotiation: take the higher valuation, push back on liquidation preferences, get both to commit together to show momentum. Total: $3.8M. Documents signed, wire transfers received. Round closed on Day 26.

The Results
  • Capital Raised: 3.8M (exceeded $3M target)
  • Timeline: 41 days
  • Investors: 14
  • Cost: $120,000 ($6K + $114K success fee) vs. $266K if using traditional consultant (7% fee)
  • Runway Unlocked: From 2 months runway → 18 months runway
“Swyft Fundr didn’t just get us funded. They taught us how to fundraise. The repositioning work was critical. We went from ‘crypto tech platform’ to ‘financial inclusion for billions.’ That framing got investors excited Best decision we made.”

Andre Smith

COO & Co-Founder, Arcvest

What Swyft Fundr Provided
  • Pitch deck rebuild and repositioning
  • Financial model creation
  • Investor matching (14 targeted intros)
  • SPV structuring for angel syndicate
  • Negotiation support and closing
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