The funding round led by Ten31, Washington University and the University of Wyoming enables Strike to expand its products and acquire new business partners.

Strike, a leading payment provider for the Bitcoin Lightning Network, has raised $80 million in a series B funding round led by the bitcoin-focused investing firm Ten31, per a press release.

“We believe Strike is poised to disrupt the financial services and payments landscape, enabling a more efficient, innovative, and inclusive financial experience for everyone,” said Grant Gilliam, co-founder and managing partner of Ten31.

Additionally, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Wyoming also contributed to the fund which will be used to further Strike’s initiative to revolutionize payments for merchants, marketplaces and financial institutions.

“We’re moving full speed ahead not just to integrate Strike’s revolutionary payments with leading merchants, but globally, with a variety of businesses and partners to innovate and deliver on more financial inclusion,” said Jack Mallers, founder and CEO of Strike.

The funding follows Strike’s release of an open application-programmable interface (API) which was initially announced at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami. The API allows companies such as the largest global payment provider BlackHawk to facilitate bitcoin and fiat payments across the Lightning Network.

Furthermore, global ecommerce platform Shopify and the National Cash Register have also started leveraging Strike’s API. The funding gathered will be used to strengthen these partnerships but also to acquire new ones.

“Every company that’s in the business of moving money is interested in superior payments, and we’re in talks with many of them. It doesn’t get any bigger and more exciting than innovating in payments for the betterment of the world,” Mallers said.

Moreover, the company will also explore new product offerings specifically tailored to financial institutions and other businesses to send and receive payments.

“We can empower businesses to move money in ways networks such as card networks and SWIFT can’t, and we pay these partners in the form of commissions to do so, which makes it an exciting innovation for everyone,” Mallers concluded.