Speed, A Made in India Company, Raises $8M from Tether and ego death capital to Accelerate Lightning-Powered Bitcoin and Stablecoin Payments

Speed, Inc. ("Speed"), a global payment infrastructure company built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, has announced an $8 million strategic investment from Tether, the issuer of USDT and USAT, and ego death capital, a venture fund backing foundational Bitcoin innovation. The funding will accelerate Speed's mission to move crypto beyond speculation and into everyday utility through instant, global, low-fee payments.

The founding story

Founded by serial entrepreneurs Niraj Patel and Jayneel Patel, Speed is a product designed by the India-based team that builds on the ideas developed from their previous company, Orderhive, a SaaS platform that served thousands of merchants and achieved a successful exit. Their experience highlighted a universal bottleneck in commerce: money moves too slowly. In 2021, they thought: "If crypto promises instant global money movement, why is real-world usage still slow, expensive, and fragmented?"

The answer led them to build Speed using Lightning-fast Bitcoin and stablecoin infrastructure. They started with a simple idea: send, receive, and settle instantly. They built their prototype on the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

Scale and traction

Speed has processed over $2.5 billion in pure Bitcoin payment volume, consisting entirely of real-world transactions including everyday business payments and peer-to-peer transfers. The platform supports 1.2 million users and is growing at more than 100% year-over-year, making Speed Wallet one of the fastest-growing Lightning-enabled wallets globally.

Speed Merchant, the company's enterprise-grade API and dashboard, enables merchants, creators, and digital platforms to accept Bitcoin and stablecoin payments with instant settlement, ultra-low fees, and full compliance. The platform is built for businesses that demand fast settlement, enterprise-grade compliance, and global operations.

Enterprise validation

A major validation of Speed's capabilities came from its adoption by Steak 'n Shake, one of the earliest national restaurant chains to integrate Lightning payments at scale. The restaurant chain attributed double-digit sales growth and a 50% reduction in payment processing fees to Bitcoin payments powered by Speed's infrastructure.

The rollout required custom payment flows across POS, kiosk, and mobile channels, deep integration with Acrelec kiosk systems, and high-availability architecture. Speed delivered on every front, demonstrating the company's reliability and ability to operate at enterprise standards. The successful deployment proved Lightning's viability at scale and established Speed as a production-ready partner for global merchants.

The stablecoin breakthrough

The founders recognized early on that Bitcoin brings speed while stablecoins bring stability. The future required both. Acting on this insight, Speed became one of the first companies to deeply integrate USDT into Lightning-based infrastructure, merging the world's most adopted digital dollar with the world's fastest network.

This unlocked significant growth across e-commerce, gaming, and digital platforms, while enabling seamless international payouts for creators and the global gig economy. Speed Wallet enables instant Bitcoin and stablecoin transfers, supports global payouts, offers local on and off-ramps, and powers USDT transactions through the Lightning Network, completing the payment loop for end users.

Strategic backing

Speed's execution and real-world adoption attracted two of the most influential forces in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, sees the investment as aligned with its strategy to bring stablecoins deeper into Lightning infrastructure.

"Speed is demonstrating how USDT and Lightning work together at scale," said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. "We support teams building practical infrastructure that reduces friction in payments and expands access to reliable settlement rails. Speed's execution and adoption signal that Bitcoin-rooted networks are ready for mainstream commerce."

Preston Pysh, General Partner at ego death capital, added: "Speed proves Bitcoin can power real commerce today, not years from now."

Deployment of capital

With this new funding, Speed will accelerate several strategic initiatives. The company plans to build infrastructure capacity to power billions in annual payment volume, bring Lightning payments and stablecoins to new regions worldwide, and develop deeper APIs and enterprise integrations for complex business needs.

Management perspective

"Bitcoin and stablecoins have lived in speculation for too long. Speed is making them usable for commerce, for creators, and for global payments," said Niraj Patel, CEO of Speed. "Lightning gives us speed; stablecoins give us stability. Support from Tether and ego death capital validates our vision for the world's most efficient payment rail."

Jayneel Patel, Co-Founder, noted: "From Orderhive to Speed, our focus has always been the same: solve real problems with technology. Speed started as a merchant solution and has grown into a global payment network. With Tether and ego death capital behind us, we're ready to take the next leap."

Speed's stated mission is to make Bitcoin and stablecoins the world's fastest, most reliable, and most accessible way to move money. With proven entrepreneurs, powerful ecosystem partners, and demonstrated global adoption, the company is positioned to lead the next era of digital payments.

Learn more at www.tryspeed.com