Abra, the startup developing a bitcoin powered remittance app, has raised just over $12 million in new funding.

The Series A round drew support from a large number of investors including Arbor Ventures, RRE Ventures and First Round Capital.

Combined with previous capital raised during a seed round, the startup has netted more than $14m in investment to date.

The company plans to use the new funding to further develop the functionality of its remittance app as well as support efforts to expand the reach of its service.

In a statement, Jim Robinson, general partner at RRE Ventures and a co-founder of Abra, said the company is “fully leveraging the potential of the technology by reducing friction in financial services”.

He added:

“It’s not about bitcoin for the sake of bitcoin – it’s about how the technology can solve problems for consumers worldwide, even if they don’t know what the blockchain is.”

The startup came out of stealth mode earlier this year at the end of Launch Festival 2015. Abra uses bitcoin as backend infrastructure but denominates funds that pass through its system in US dollars.

Image via Abra