← All Dossiers
HamsaPay – Series B
Funded Fund: StoryHouse Fund II  ·  SH Check: $500K  ·  Valuation: $250M post  ·  Round: $31M Series B  ·  Closed: 2025-05-12
Dossier generated 2026-07-14 by /deal-dossier  ·  Deal record: reczYRvG5T4jZXpaX  ·  Source: Airtable appjxAR3LPe3fkHOp

One-Liner & Thesis

Hamsa is building the Unified Ledger for global finance: an AI-enabled, privacy-preserving layer that lets banks and central banks clear and settle faster, cheaper, and with full interoperability. The wedge is fund sub-accounting and reconciliation, ripping out legacy mainframe incumbents like SS&C with a cloud- and blockchain-native data layer, then expanding into real-time settlement and real-world-asset tokenization.

Validation is strong for the stage: in 2025 Hamsa serviced over $400B of AUM and serves central banks on three continents plus Tier-1 banks including Banco Safra in Brazil Web. On the 2025-04-09 diligence call, Adam Zbar described a signed $22M five-year contract displacing SS&C at a roughly $20B institution and a projected path to break-even in 2027 (Internal, rec3joAXR5xyMVVeW). SH committed $500K via StoryHouse Fund II at a $250M post-money valuation in the $31M Series B, alongside Greycroft (lead), Haven, Relevance Ventures, NIYA Partners, and JPM; a subsequent $11.5M SAFE from NIYA at a $320M cap marks the position up (Internal, BoD update 2026-05-11). Founder-CEO Adam Zbar is a Pomona College alum, a Claremont network tie.

Investment Score & Recommendation

81 / 100
STRONG INVEST
Biggest driver: a top-decile founding team (Zbar built and exited Sun Basket; Wu built AliPay and AliExpress cross-border rails) attacking a massive, BIS-endorsed unified-ledger and tokenization market with real central-bank and Tier-1 traction. Biggest drag: a rich entry price, $250M post on roughly $1.4M LTM revenue, that leaves little margin for slippage.
Momentum: Accelerating Red flags: 3 / 9 Confidence: MED
Market & TAM9/10
Weight 25%
Team & Founder9/10
Weight 25%
Product & Traction8/10
Weight 20%
Deal Terms & Return6/10
Weight 20%
VC Syndicate8/10
Weight 10%

Deal Box

Round Size
$31M
Valuation / Cap
$250M post ($220M pre)
Lead
Greycroft
Co-Investors
Haven, Relevance Ventures, NIYA Partners, JPM
SH Check
$500K
Fund
StoryHouse Fund II
Funding Round
Series B
SH Investment Date
2025-05-12

Company Snapshot

Sector
FinTech, Financial Services, Payments, Mobile Payments
Location
Bay Area, California
Headcount
17 (Airtable; ~93 per Tracxn, May 2026)
Year Founded
2020
Total Raised
$27.3M (Tracxn); $5.7M in Airtable
Website
hamsa.com
Status
Private

Market Size

$1.76T
Asset Tokenization Mkt Web
2025 estimate
~42%
CAGR Web
2026–2033 tokenization
$100T
Sub-Accounting SAM Internal
Asset & wealth mgmt (call)

Clearing and settlement is the dominant sub-segment of the fintech blockchain market at roughly 34.6% share Web, and the BIS has published a blueprint for a tokenized unified ledger of central bank money, deposits, and bonds, validating Hamsa's core architecture as the direction of institutional finance Web. On the diligence call, Adam Zbar framed the sub-accounting opportunity against a $100T asset and wealth management market and roughly $15T of clearing-and-settlement efficiency (Internal, rec3joAXR5xyMVVeW).

Competition

CompanyFocusScale / FundingNote
HamsaUnified Ledger for clearing, settlement, sub-accounting and RWA tokenization$27.3M raised; $400B AUM serviced 2025Privacy-preserving, EVM-compatible ledger; central-bank pilots on three continents
PartiorBank-owned unified ledger for cross-border multicurrency payments, PvP/DvP settlementBank-owned interbank networkClosest architectural comp; atomic multicurrency settlement
FnalityCentral-bank-money settlement (utility settlement coin) for wholesale paymentsRaised ~$136MSettles on regulated central bank money; narrower payments focus
SS&C (SSNC)Incumbent fund administration and sub-accounting on mainframe stackPublic; acquired Calastone for ~$1.03B (2025)Primary displacement target; adding tokenized-fund and digital-cash settlement
FireblocksDigital-asset custody and transfer infrastructureWell-capitalized crypto-nativeCustody-layer adjacency, not a full clearing/settlement ledger

Moat: Hamsa's edge is a first-to-market privacy layer on a public, composable, high-speed ledger, paired with deep incumbent-displacement contracts and central-bank relationships that are slow to win and stickier once installed (Internal, rec3joAXR5xyMVVeW; Web).

Traction

$400B
AUM Serviced 2025 Web
$1.4M
Est. LTM Revenue Internal
$22M
5-Yr Contract Signed Internal
Replacing SS&C at ~$20B co.
27 mo
Runway Internal
Break-even projected 2027

Additional signals: two live CBDC pilots and work with Brazil's major banks and central bank alongside a Microsoft partnership, plus cross-border interest from Visa (Internal, rec3joAXR5xyMVVeW; Web). Company health is marked Green in the CRM.

Exit Potential

IPO
Likely Path Internal
Founder runs a dual-track process
4–6 yrs
Time to Liquidity
Post break-even (2027+)
Category-defining
Return Scenario
Infra-scale outcome or M&A

Zbar stated a preference to run to an IPO while keeping a dual M&A process (Internal, rec3joAXR5xyMVVeW). Natural acquirers include the very incumbents Hamsa displaces, SS&C and Broadridge, plus strategic financial infrastructure players such as Visa, JPM, and Fiserv/FIS. A recent comparable is SS&C's ~$1.03B acquisition of blockchain funds network Calastone in 2025 Web.

Founders

Adam Zbar
Co-Founder & CEO · Pomona College · ex-McKinsey
Serial entrepreneur who founded and scaled Sun Basket to roughly $275M in revenue before its 2021 sale, after starting his career at McKinsey & Company. He founded Hamsa in 2020 to modernize institutional clearing, settlement, and sub-accounting. Pomona alum, a Claremont network tie (Internal; Web).
Hubert Wu
Co-Founder & CTO · Tsinghua University
Cross-border payments architect who built AliPay's and AliExpress' first cross-border payment systems and served as a VP of technologies at American Express. He leads Hamsa's core IP and engineering across teams in the US, China, and Poland (Internal, rec3joAXR5xyMVVeW; Web).

Open Questions & Risks

Next Steps

Latest Meeting Notes

2025-04-09 Diligence Call Adam Zbar — Series B evaluation Expand
Substantive diligence call with CEO Adam Zbar covering product, traction, team, and financing. Verdict: an interesting Series B opportunity, though expensive; SH to evaluate the data room and investor references for Fund II.
  • Product: Reconciliation and sub-accounting as the wedge, expanding to real-time settlement (tokenization) and the Unified Ledger; first to solve privacy on a public, composable ledger.
  • Traction: Signed a $22M five-year contract ripping out SS&C at a ~$20B institution; sub-accounting is revenue-generating; two years in Brazil with a major bank and Microsoft, plus Visa cross-border interest.
  • Team: CTO Hubert Wu built AliPay/AliExpress cross-border rails and led engineering at American Express; core talent in the US, IP teams in China and Poland.
  • Financing: Greycroft term sheet, $30M round with ~$20M hard-circled, $220M pre / $250M post; break-even targeted 2027; IPO-preferred exit with a dual process.
Full note (cleaned)

Focused on clearing and settlement: a massive amount of technical debt that never got cleaned up; the front end was modernized but not the back end. Estimated $15 trillion of efficiency at stake. The biggest areas are in reconciliation, the primary and initial product for Hamsa, delivered as a data product; a secondary transaction problem is that things do not trade instantly. The goal is to be an AI-enabled financial data layer across three products: Hamsa AI-enabled sub-accounting (tracking initial transactions, aimed at the $100T asset and wealth management market), Hamsa Real-Time Settlement (via tokenization), and the Hamsa Unified Ledger.

Core IP is the Unified Ledger, first to solve privacy on a permissioned or permissionless layer, and first to solve privacy on a public ledger with private, composable, high-speed smart contracts. CTO Hubert Wu was CTO of American Express Asia and head of global engineering at Alipay. Traction: serves the largest banks in the US and LatAm; just signed a $22M five-year contract, ripping and replacing the biggest vendor at a confidential ~$20B company where SS&C was the primary vendor; sub-accounting is revenue-generating, helping a client make an extra $100M a year in money market funds, and Hamsa will do both sub-accounting and clearing. SS&C was mainframe; Hamsa is cloud and blockchain-enabled. Key use cases are trading and transferring; JP Morgan runs 250K to 2M transactions daily with ~5K breaks, and Hamsa built a better module. Two years in Brazil with the main bank in partnership with Microsoft; now getting interest from the four largest banks in Brazil and from Visa on cross-border payments.

Financing: term sheet from Greycroft, a $30M round with $20M hard-circled, targeting an April close, at $220M pre-money and $250M post-money. Break-even expected in 2027. Long-term, Zbar would like to run to an IPO while keeping a dual process. Team is based with core intellectual talent in the US, a core IP team in China (18 engineers), and a larger IP team in Poland started about 1.5 years ago. Open questions raised: how the regulatory landscape and other target markets impact operations and expansion, and how the $225M valuation was derived. Timing: confirmation requested by April 21. Summary: an interesting Series B opportunity, though expensive; follow up to evaluate the data room, talk to investors, and consider for Fund II.

Source: Meeting Notes rec3joAXR5xyMVVeW
2025-03-28 Email Intro Julian Nachtigal introduces Adam Zbar to Miles Expand
Warm email introduction from Julian Nachtigal connecting Miles to Adam Zbar, CEO and co-founder of Hamsa, ahead of the Series B. This was an email, not a call.
  • Raise: Hamsa is raising a Series B with a signed term sheet from a top-tier investor.
  • Growth claim: $400B AUM on platform in 2025, with $1T projected in 2026.
  • Ask: Prioritizing strategic, value-add investors to fill out the round; Adam wanted to chat.
Full note (cleaned)

Introduction to Adam Zbar from Julian Nachtigal. Julian writes to Miles that he wants to connect him with Adam, CEO and co-founder of Hamsa Pay, who is raising a Series B. The company is growing fast, with $400B AUM on platform in 2025 and $1T projected in 2026, and has a signed term sheet from a top-tier investor. They are prioritizing adding strategic, value-add investors to fill out the round. Adam wanted to chat, with Deanna cc'd to help schedule.

Source: Meeting Notes rec4xkqpH7EQhxn2T

Deal Timeline

Sources

  1. Hamsa — About Us: product, founder backgrounds (Zbar/Sun Basket, Wu/AliPay-AliExpress-AmEx), and $400B AUM serviced in 2025.
  2. Hamsa — Powering the Finternet: Unified Ledger positioning, central banks on three continents, Tier-1 institutions.
  3. Tracxn — Hamsa profile: total funding ($27.3M), headcount (~93 as of May 2026), competitor set.
  4. Wikipedia — Adam Zbar: Sun Basket scale (~$275M revenue) and 2021 sale.
  5. Grand View Research — Asset Tokenization Market: ~$1.76T 2025 market size and ~42% CAGR.
  6. Market.us — FinTech Blockchain Market: payments/clearing/settlement is the dominant sub-segment (~34.6% share).
  7. BIS — Tokenised unified ledger: blueprint for a next-generation tokenized monetary and financial system.
  8. FinTech Futures — SS&C acquires Calastone: ~$1.03B fintech infrastructure comparable exit (2025).
  9. CB Insights — Fnality: competitor context in blockchain settlement infrastructure.