Bitmama, a female-led African crypto startup, has raised $350,000 in a pre-seed round. According to the business, the funding would allow it to expand its operational footprint, increase its personnel, and enter new markets across Africa.
Flori Ventures, a San Francisco-based VC, led the round, which included Nigerian investment fund Emergence Capital, Fedha Capital, and a slew of other VCs and angel investors.
“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. 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,” said Ruth Iselema, Bitmama CEO.
The startup intends to use the funds to expand into Francophone African countries, Kenya, and Europe.
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Why The Investors Invested
The startup has garnered considerable traction. With over 15,000 active customers across its two offers, Bitmama has processed over $6 million in transaction volume this year.
“We’ve partnered with Bitmama to help them in their growth journey. We are particularly interested in projects that explore universal basic income, community commerce, community currencies, natural-capital-backed currencies, accessible DeFi primitives, earnings platforms, peer-to-peer marketplaces,” said Maria Alegre, General Partner/Co-founder, Flori Ventures.
Just co-founded in April 2021 by Maria Alegre, Flori Ventures is a seed-stage startup fund that invests in innovators who are working to make the financial system more inventive, regenerative, decentralized, and inclusive.
The VC invests mostly in startups being built on the Celo ecosystem, of which Bitmama is one.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Bitmama, founded by Ruth Iselema in 2019, provides a secure blockchain infrastructure that allows users from all around Africa to conduct cryptocurrency transactions. At the present, the startup is only active in Nigeria and Ghana.
The platform allows for the exchange and selling of cryptocurrencies as well as cross-border payments. Changera, the company’s cross-border payment option, allowing users to send and receive money worldwide, buy airtime and data, and pay utility bills from anywhere on the planet.
After being duped out of $250,000 while trading Bitcoin, the CEO, a professional pharmacist, ventured into the Blockchain industry. This inspired her to create Bitmama, a cryptocurrency exchange site.
The startup, which is situated in Germany, now employs roughly 15–20 remote workers.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer