Bitmama, a Nigerian blockchain startup, is now available. announced After adding $1.65million to the $350,000 raised in October, it has now closed its preseed funding round at $2,000,000.
Bitmama was invested in by Unicorn Growth Capital, an African venture capital firm, and Launch Africa. Others that participated in the round included existing and potential investors such as Adaverse, Flori Ventures and GreenHouse Capital. ODBA, Five35 Ventures and Chrysalis Capital. Enrich Africa and Thrive Africa were also supported by Angellist Ventures. Angel investors include Marek Olszewski, Honey Ogundeyi, Rene Reinsberg and Marek Olszewski.
Bitmama, which has built a distributed remote team across Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, said it is working to democratize Africa’s highly fragmented payment system by leveraging blockchain-based solutions.
Bitmama CEO Ruth Iselema founded the Africa-focused cryptocurrency payments startup in 2019. The Nigeria-based company was founded in 2019 as a WhatsApp group, where members were able to learn about cryptocurrency and make transactions.
Bitmama later developed a crypto-exchange platform, which allowed these users to access formal digital assets and explore other use cases such as buying, selling, swapping, and trading crypto.
Changera was introduced by the company in recent years. It is a social payment system that allows customers use stablecoins to make international payments and remittances on Netflix and Amazon via virtual card.
Iselema further talked about the development: “We started Bitmama to make it easy for anyone across the African continent to buy and sell cryptocurrency. As time went by, we realized that there were a few use cases for this technology. We created stuff that would allow them to buy data and airtime locally and internationally, and also make crypto transactions. Then, due to local bank card limitations of $20 monthly spend, we provided virtual dollar cards for Nigerians to make international purchases.”
Crypto Survival Under Pressure
Despite the recent market crash, the crypto boom in Nigeria has not stopped. A new study found that Nigeria is the country most interested crypto currency since April’s crash.
Afriex, a fintech startup from Nigeria, closed a Series A round of $10 million in April for a $60m valuation. Many other related crypto companies have also continued to raise funding rounds.
Early last year, Nigeria’s regulators tried to crack down on cryptocurrency, but a few months later such efforts failed to work. This is a prime example how local users can use crypto to help them cope with a failing economy, despite the restrictive stance of the government.
People are now more inclined to invest in crypto assets, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, due to the devaluation of their local currency.
Many young Nigerians consider Bitcoin and major cryptocurrency a way to make money, as the traditional economy is in decline amid economic crisis.
Many people are taking advantage decentralized finance, and many others are embracing different yield farming methods.
The biggest factor in crypto’s popularity in the country has been the intense drive and business aptitude of the Nigerian youth.
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