BitPesa

BitPesa logo

BitPesa provides wholesale cryptocurrency liquidity for individuals and institutions across Africa. In addition to fast settlement and number of currency options, BitPesa also boasts state-of-the-art security and the deepest liquidity of any African exchange. Having traded over half a billion dollars, BitPesa was the first blockchain company to be licensed by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and follows stringent KYC practices.

Contents

Main information

  • Country: Kenya
  • Headquarter: Nairobi
  • Type: Payment processor
  • Total funding: $30 million
  • Investors: Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA); Sompo Holdings; Plug and Play; Greycroft; Draper VC, Greycroft LLC, Digital Currency Group, Pantera Capital Management, Blockchain Capital, Zephyr Acorn, FuturePerfectVC and BnkToTheFuture

The company’s services are integrated to mobile money, which is a huge payment service in the region. The company is looking to expand its operations in the form of strategic partnerships with companies in other South East nations, Europe and USA,

History

BitPesa – How It Works

BitPesa was founded in November 2013 with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya and offices and staff in Lagos, London, Luxembourg, Dakar and Madrid.

By the end of May 2014, BitPesa launched its beta site with a service that allowed users to send money to any mobile money wallet in Kenya.[1] At the end of December 2014, customers in Kenya could buy bitcoins on the platform. BitPesa launched in Tanzania in May 2015 allowing customers to send Tanzanian Shillings to three mobile networks in the country.

In November 2015, BitPesa launched in Nigeria and Uganda.[2] By January 2017, BitPesa had closed a $2.5 million Series A funding round of 2M to focus on becoming the largest licensed payment company in the UK, Europe and Africa that offers real-time settlement at wholesale FX rates to frontier and emerging markets.[3] By August 2017, BitPesa had raised $10 million Series A funding led by Greycroft Partners.[4]

BitPesa launched its services in Ghana in March 2018.[5]

Links

BitPesa Official website
@BitPesa on Twitter

See Also on BitcoinWiki

References

  1. ↑ Kenya’s BitPesa Launches Beta Test of Remittance Service
  2. ↑ Bitcoin-Startup BitPesa Expands Into Nigeria, Uganda
  3. ↑ Kenya’s BitPesa closes $2.5m funding round
  4. ↑ Bitcoin Payments Firm BitPesa Secures Greycroft As Lead Investor For $10 Million Total Funding
  5. ↑ BitPesa launches in Ghana to expand West African footprint