PlutoPe, a fintech startup offering a non-custodial crypto wallet, has raised $500,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Indian investor Manit Gupta.

The startup will use the fresh capital to expand in global underbanked markets, upgrade its product stack and boost its user acquisition, the company said in a statement.

The statement added that the funding is expected to support launches of crypto debit cards across Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America regions.

PlutoPe, founded in 2022 by Kumar Chetan Tyagi, positions itself as a crypto neo-bank for the next generation of users and businesses. It claims to have processed over $14.5 million in crypto swaps with 9% month-on-month user growth  rate and 65% active user retention.

Early stage funding in the crypto space has been few and far between in the past few years. Late last year crypto-native social networking platform OxPPL raised an undisclosed amount led by PeakXV Partners, AllianceDAO and Anagram.