BitPesa, a Kenya-based blockchain payments platform, has announced leading VC firm Greycroft as its lead investor in a follow-up to its Series A funding round.
The startup said that with a majority of existing shareholders topping up and addition of a new investor, Plug and Play, it has raised $10 million to date. BitPesa said that it is excited to partner Plug and Play, which has opened a Paris office focused on FinTech with its new partner BNP Paribas.
“Bitcoin and cryptocurrency will play an important role in the payments and money transfer industries and even more so in the developing world for which BitPesa is ideally positioned,” said Alan Patricof, founder and Managing Director of Greycroft.
“BitPesa promises to revolutionize the exchange and payment markets in Africa, disrupting monopoly incumbents and opening the fastest growing economies in the world to foreign companies. We’re very excited for the team’s vision and current execution which bolsters payment avenues throughout the region,” said Scott Robinson, Vice President at Plug and Play.
Launched in November 2013 in Nairobi, BitPesa also has offices in Lagos, London, Luxembourg and Dakar. The company intends to use the funding to continue its expansion into Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It said that its 25% month-on-month growth for nearly two years demonstrates that its initial model of using bitcoin blockchain to lower the cost and increase the speed for payment processing to and from emerging markets works for businesses.
“We keep raising because we have grown above and beyond projections,” said Elizabeth Rossiello, founder and CEO. “We have expanded across Africa and Europe, added a stellar roster of Fortune 100 companies as clients and are receiving growing support from regulators.”
“Global companies trading in Africa see the immediate value and efficiency of using BitPesa, as they know the pain of using existing cross-border payment services in these markets.”
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