Zelf announced $2 million in a pre-seed funding round led by 3VC.

Zelf, a Riga, Latvia-based fintech startup, announced closing a pre-seed funding round of $2 million.

The money was raised from investors led by Austrian venture capital fund 3VC with backing from Seed Х and Hard Yaka, as well as from Yair Goldfinger and Chris Adelsbach.

Zelf, founded in 2019 by CEO Elliot Goykhman, built a banking operation targeted a young people via an onboading software tool that includes instant messengers like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram and Viber. The company says it takes less than 30 seconds to receive a virtual Mastercard card and an IBAN account - once issued, a customer can send and receive money through the messaging platform of their choice, with their voice. The system uses an AI-powered voice control system.

Zelf says it has over half a million customers in 100 countries.