Atum Exits Stealth With $13.5M Seed Led By Variant And PayPal Ventures

Atum, an open payments network for global money movement founded by former Visa crypto product lead Pete Cooling, has emerged from stealth with $13.5 million in seed funding, according to a report from First Pass News dated September 23, 2026. The announcement marks the official public debut of the payments infrastructure startup, which has been operating quietly while building its network and securing initial capital commitments.

The $13.5 million seed round was led by Variant and included participation from PayPal Ventures, according to the Scouts by Yutori database tracking stealth companies and founders. Beyond the equity funding, Atum has secured $125 million in committed deployments, indicating substantial commercial interest in the network's infrastructure from potential partners and customers.

Pete Cooling, who serves as CEO of Atum, previously held the role of crypto product lead at Visa, where he was responsible for shaping the payments giant's cryptocurrency strategy and product development. His departure from Visa to found Atum represents a significant move from an established payments incumbent to a startup building competing infrastructure.

Atum is building an open payments network designed to facilitate global money movement, though the company has not publicly disclosed specific details about its underlying technology stack or whether it utilizes blockchain or distributed ledger components. The company's emergence alongside growing stablecoin card payment infrastructure suggests it may be building rails that connect traditional financial systems with digital asset ecosystems.