There’s been a surge of interest in stablecoins—and for good reason.
As a transformative financial technology, stablecoins offer the potential to be significantly faster, cheaper, and more accessible as a means of payment or store of value than traditional fiat currencies and legacy payment infrastructure. Over the past year alone, stablecoins have facilitated more than $6 trillion in transactions, with over 230 million active users worldwide leveraging them for everything from near-instant remittances and cross-border B2B payments to international payouts and treasury management.
Yet despite this rapid adoption, a fundamental challenge remains: stablecoins primarily operate on separate blockchain networks that aren’t fully compatible with traditional financial infrastructure. This creates friction when trying to use them for everyday transactions. Take, for example, a freelancer in Mexico who receives payment in USD Coin (USDC). While USDC provides a hedge against local currency volatility, that freelancer still needs pesos to buy groceries or pay local merchants. The process of converting stablecoins back into fiat is often slow, expensive, and dependent on adequate local liquidity—adding unnecessary complexity to what should be a seamless experience.
Enabling Stablecoin Payments Without the Friction
That’s where Rain comes in. By connecting stablecoins to established payment networks, Rain eliminates the complexity of off-ramping, allowing businesses and individuals to transact seamlessly without costly delays or fees.
Co-founders Farooq Malik and Charles Naut have built a platform that exemplifies what we like to call the “mullet approach” to financial product innovation in the digital asset space: a traditional financial product interface in the front and sophisticated digital asset infrastructure in the back. Through its direct Visa principal membership, Rain allows businesses to issue both B2B and consumer payment cards that settle in stablecoins—all while preserving the familiar, universally accepted Visa-backed experience that merchants and cardholders already know and trust.
For businesses, this means the ability to pay global suppliers without the complexities of foreign exchange. For cardholders, it means the ability to spend digital assets anywhere Visa is accepted—without off-ramp delays, conversion fees, or liquidity concerns. Rain supports settlement across multiple blockchain networks, providing a compliant, scalable solution that abstracts away the complexities of digital currencies and seamlessly integrates them into mainstream commerce.
The Team Pioneering the Future of Payments
Farooq and Charles bring a rare combination of expertise in finance, regulation, and technology.
- Farooq Malik, CEO and co-founder, served as treasurer and investment officer of the North American Development Bank, giving him deep expertise in financial regulation and cross-border transactions.
- Charles Naut, CTO and co-founder, began his career as a product manager at Microsoft before founding PlaybookHR (acquired by Intuit). At Intuit, Charles was a principal engineer on the QuickBooks team.
Their complementary skill sets and forward-thinking vision uniquely position them to transform how the world interacts with digital currencies and global payments.
Scaling a New Era of Stablecoin Adoption
We’ve been fortunate to partner with Rain since its seed stage, back when the company was just an idea and a Notion doc. Since then, the team has demonstrated exceptional execution and relentless innovation, forging key partnerships with leading financial institutions like Visa, processing stablecoin transactions across 100+ countries, and growing the company more than 15x in the past 12 months.
That’s why we’re proud to double down on our investment by leading Rain’s Series A. With this latest round of funding, Rain is poised to redefine how businesses and individuals transact—making stablecoins as practical and accessible as traditional currencies.
As digital assets continue to reshape global finance, Rain is paving the way for a future where stablecoins aren’t just a store of value—they’re a spendable, scalable, and frictionless payment option for everyday commerce. We can’t wait to see what they build next.
Rain is Norwest’s latest investment in fintech. We have a long history of investing in innovative fintech companies including Butter Payments, Dave, LendingClub, Opendoor, and Plaid. If you’re building in the space, let’s talk: Parker Barrile (email or LinkedIn) and Jordan Leites (email or LinkedIn).
