Pete Cooling Co-Founded Atum Raises $13.5M in Funding

The round saw backers including Variant, PayPal Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Road Capital, Mirana Ventures, First Commit, Credibly Neutral, and Charlie Songhurst.

The company will use the funding to expand operations and develop its payments network.

What is Atum?

Atum operates an open payments network that connects payment companies, developers, and businesses through a single coordination layer.

The platform helps businesses move money across different currencies, blockchains, applications, and local payment rails. It does not issue a currency, operate a blockchain, favor a specific payment rail, or take custody of customer funds.

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Settlement providers compete to complete payments across supported chains and stablecoins, while Atum handles authorization, routing, and confirmation.

How Much Funding Has Atum Raised?

Atum has raised $13.5 million in its latest funding round.

The company emerged from stealth alongside the funding announcement. No previous funding details were provided.

Who Invested in Atum’s Funding Round?

The round included:

• Variant
• PayPal Ventures
• Abstract Ventures
• Road Capital
• Mirana Ventures
• First Commit
• Credibly Neutral
• Charlie Songhurst

Why the Funding Matters

Atum will use the new capital to expand its operations and continue developing its open payments network.

The company aims to provide a coordination layer that reduces the complexity of moving money across different payment networks and stablecoin systems.

Who founded Atum?

Atum was founded by Pete Cooling and is based in San Francisco, California.

Leadership Comments

"This is my life's work," said Pete Cooling, founder and CEO of Atum. "In 2014 I saw that blockchains were payment networks, and everything since has pointed to the same conclusion. Onchain accounts are the future bank accounts, and new infrastructure is needed to make money move more seamlessly than it does today. Atum is that infrastructure."

Market and Business Growth

Atum serves businesses involved in moving money, including card issuers, and acquirers, payment service providers, card networks, stablecoin orchestrators, wallets, fintech companies and enterprises.

The network also supports developers building payment applications. Atum supports both traditional stablecoin payments and agentic payments through protocols including x402 and MPP.

The company said both humans and AI agents are currently completing payments through Atum.

What Happens Next?

Atum plans to expand its operations and continue developing its open payments network for global money movement.

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