Bitmama, an African blockchain company, has closed a US$350,000 pre-seed investment to expand blockchain payment solution across Sub-saharn Africa.
Bitmama will use the investment to expand its team, grow its operations, and penetrate new markets across Africa, while also rapidly driving crypto and payment solutions in the continent.
The round was piloted by Flori Ventures, while Emergence Capital, a Nigeria-based investment fund, and a number of angel investors and VCs participated.
Speaking on the round and how it will help Bitmama achieve its objective, Ruth Iselema, Founder and CEO, Bitmama Inc, said:
“The rate of crypto adoption in Africa has been surprisingly fast but anticipated. All over Africa, more than 3 million users now perform crypto transactions on the day-to-day.
The continent is also home to Nigeria, the second largest crypto market globally, which records an average of over $3 million in daily trading volume.
We believe the continent’s crypto landscape will experience massive growth in user base and trading volumes in the next couple of years and we are aiming to build an efficient blockchain infrastructure that is firm and flexible enough to help users navigate complexities and facilitate secure cryptocurrency transactions across the continent.
Most importantly, we are thrilled to have strong financial backers with global credibility and track records, who are keen on supporting our mission to ensure crypto and cross-border transactions across Africa are done efficiently and safely for users and businesses.”
Akin Asalu, COO of Bitmama, believes that challenges precede the best of solutions. “History has proven that complications are paramount to breaking new grounds. Although the blockchain space in Africa is a complex landscape to navigate in terms of regulation and adoption, we can’t ignore the numerous use cases that exist.
And as new innovations like 5G push through the continent, even the most remote areas will be willing to explore the diverse opportunities presented by emerging technologies such as blockchain and the possibilities of cryptocurrencies.
Bitmama is positioned to drive the awareness and adoption of crypto in Africa. We have distributed a remote team across the continent and we plan to build more blockchain-powered solutions to advance our mission.”
Ibukun Adeleke, Director at Emergence Capital also commented on the raise, “We are proud to partner with Bitmama and are impressed with the significant traction the business has made and continues to make across its key performance parameters including transaction volume & value, number of users, local and international strategic partnerships.
We are inspired by the team’s resolve to make financial services more decentralised and accessible for people and companies in Africa with an overarching mission to solve our problems on the continent using blockchain.
We are excited for what is to come! Leveraging our experience, partners and relationships, we look forward to working closely with Ruth, Akin and the Bitmama team on their expansion drive across their key target emerging markets and help realize its overall corporate aspirations.”
Bitmama was founded in 2018 and it is a platform that provides a secure blockchain system for its users to carry out cryptocurrency transactions.
It enables its users enjoy easy, reliable, secure, and transparent transactions with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Celo and six other cryptocurrencies.
Bitmama runs an highly efficient 3-tier verification process that blocks out ingenuine users and enables the safety of honest traders in the system, unlike other alternatives for peer-2-peer and OTCs for crypto traders and businesses that accept crypto as payments but prove dangerous and unsafe due to scam proliferation.
It has two flagship products: Bitmama.io, which is a crypto exchange for users to buy and sell cryptocurrency, and Changera, a platform that facilitates cross-border payments for users globally.
Bitmama has recorded over US$3m in transaction volume this year alone and has more than 5,000 active users across Nigeria and Ghana.
Featured Image: Akin Asalu, COO, Bitmama (Left), Ruth Iselema, CEO, Bitmama (Right)
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