CatchBack Cards Raises $7.8M Seed Led by Foundation Capital

CatchBack Cards Secures $7.8M Seed Round

CatchBack Cards, a Y Combinator-backed platform for Pokemon and sports card collectors, has raised $7.8 million in seed funding. The round was announced on September 21, 2026, and was led by Foundation Capital.

What the Company Does

CatchBack Cards operates an iOS and web platform that lets collectors build custom mystery packs with cryptographically verifiable odds. The product is aimed at the multibillion-dollar physical trading card secondary market.

Collectors on the platform can:

• Open packs digitally
• Have pulled cards shipped to their home
• Cash out instant buyback offers via Venmo or PayPal
• Trade card rights in a $1 marketplace

The combination of verifiable pack odds and instant liquidity options addresses two long-standing friction points in the physical card market: trust in randomized products and the difficulty of converting pulled cards into cash.

Round Details

• Round type: Seed
• Amount raised: $7.8 million
• Currency: USD
• Announced: September 21, 2026
• Lead investor: Foundation Capital
• Participating investors: Robinhood Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Y Combinator, Foundation Capital, Solana Foundation

The investor list spans traditional venture capital, consumer fintech, crypto infrastructure, and the accelerator that backed the company. Robinhood Ventures and Coinbase Ventures bring consumer trading and digital asset experience, while the Solana Foundation's participation points to the cryptographic verification layer underpinning the platform's pack odds.

Company Background

CatchBack Cards was founded in 2025 by Joseph Zhang and Sophia Kim in San Francisco. The company went through Y Combinator's Winter 2026 batch.

Why It Matters

The physical trading card market has grown into a multibillion-dollar secondary market, but the buying experience remains largely analog: sealed packs with opaque odds, and a resale process that depends on marketplaces, shipping, and buyer trust.

CatchBack Cards is betting that collectors will pay for verifiable randomness and faster exits. Cryptographically verifiable odds let buyers confirm that a pack's contents were determined as advertised, while instant buyback offers through Venmo and PayPal give sellers a same-session path to liquidity rather than a listing-and-wait cycle.

The $1 marketplace for trading card rights adds a speculative layer on top of physical ownership, allowing users to trade exposure to cards without necessarily taking delivery.

About the Company

• Name: CatchBack Cards
• Founded: 2025
• Founders: Joseph Zhang and Sophia Kim
• Headquarters: San Francisco
• Backing: Y Combinator (Winter 2026)
• Platforms: iOS and web
• Website: catchbackcards.com