Portfolio Company Spotlight Series: March 2024 MESH

To kick off 2024, Motivate Venture Capital is introducing its Founder Spotlight Series to highlight exceptional founders who are changing the face of industries through technology. Our Founder Spotlight series starts with Bam Azizi, CEO and Co-Founder of Mesh.

Mesh is a modern financial operating system that provides enterprise clients with the ability to enable digital asset transfers, crypto payments, account aggregation, and trading, all within their platform. Leveraging integrations with 300+ partners, Mesh is creating an embedded financial ecosystem that is more open, connected, and secure for businesses and users alike.

Last year, Mesh raised a $30MM Series A funding round led by Money Forward, with participation from Galaxy, Samsung Next, and others. The company recently announced an additional strategic investment from PayPal Ventures. The investment was made almost entirely using PayPal USD (PYUSD), PayPal’s U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin, transferred on-chain using the Mesh API.

MVC: What was the original version of Mesh, and what were your inspirations for starting the company?

Bam Azizi: Originally, Mesh was a B2C company called Front. We enabled consumers to execute trades and manage investments across all their brokerage accounts in a single app. Initially, we started building backend infrastructure for the B2C application similar to what we had built at NoPassword.

MVC: Despite your success with the consumer business, you decided to pivot to a B2B model. Can you walk me through that decision and transition?

BA: Lots of companies have transitioned from B2C to B2B. Our DNA and core were API integrations. Our B2C application was successful, but the challenge was monetization. Raising venture capital for a B2C company in 2022 was significantly different than in 2021. We decided to focus on B2B SaaS and API integrations, launching on Product Hunt and landing five early-stage fintech customers.

MVC: You’ve been able to scale very quickly as a B2B company. What do you attribute this success to, and how do you think about GTM and customer acquisition?

BA: We started with a barbell strategy, targeting fintech startups and enterprise companies. This allowed us to validate our technology with smaller companies while also focusing on long-term revenue from enterprises. As we gained traction, we transitioned to prioritize enterprise contracts.

MVC: What was the biggest challenge you faced in 2023, how did you overcome it, and what did you learn from it?

BA: My main challenge was growing revenue to raise our Series A. I focused on pitching to 1,000 decision-makers and managed to sign a significant percentage, which was crucial for demonstrating our enterprise potential.

MVC: Where does the business stand today, and why do your customers love Mesh?

BA: We built a modern connection layer enabling customers to access functionalities previously unavailable, driving new revenue streams. We offer unique solutions in asset transfer, trade execution, and deposits.

MVC: What impacts do you think pending open banking regulation will have on Mesh?

BA: The future of finance is open and embedded. Open banking regulations will provide a foundation for companies like Mesh to thrive without needing to negotiate deals with large financial institutions.

MVC: What are you most excited about in 2024?

BA: Our main objective is to increase the number of connected accounts. We aim to work with top payment, exchange, and wallet companies to enhance user interaction with the Mesh API and drive revenue growth.

MVC: Congratulations on successfully raising your Series A. Can you share insights into the recent PayPal raise?

BA: I am thrilled to have PayPal Ventures' support as we aim to become a connection layer for a vast network of crypto platforms and financial service providers.

MVC: Any asks for the audience and readers?

BA: If you are a fintech founder or a Web3 developer looking for an exciting startup opportunity, please consider reaching out. I'm personally interviewing candidates!