US and Africa-based blockchain payments startup, Bitmama has announced that it has raised an additional $1.65 million pre-seed fund, ten months after its initial pre-seed round of $350,000 which brings its total pre-seed round to $2 million.
The round was led by Unicorn Growth Capital and Launch Africa Ventures, with participation from Adaverse, follow-on from Flori Ventures, which led its earlier pre-seed round, and new investors including Tekedia Capital, GreenHouse Capital, ODBA Vc, Five35 Ventures, Chrysalis Capital, Enrich Africa, Thrive Africa, Angellist Ventures, and angel investors including CELO founders Rene Reinsberg and Marek Olszewski, and Honey Ogundeyi.
Founded by Ruth Iselema, Bitmama enable users to be able to buy and sell cryptocurrencies conveniently using their debit cards. It also allows them to carry out regular online payments, pay utilities and perform transactions such as staking to hedge against currency devaluation.
Its virtual card offering allows gives users up to $10,000 in monthly spending limits. Powered by VISA, these cards are funded with stable coins and can work anywhere in the world for online transactions.
“Bitmama has made a number of strides in the past year. We’ve rolled out two products, both of which are fast closing in on 100,000 users across the African market and recording impressive daily active users across our range of product offerings despite the market dynamics”, Ruth Iselema, Founder and CEO of Bitmama Inc.
“We are building Africa’s most user-friendly, innovative blockchain company, and we are glad to have the backing of seasoned investors and partners who have walked similar turfs. We are privileged to learn from their blended experiences across corporate and blockchain business verticals. We are confident of the results we’ve achieved so far, and we are set to build the next big solution that the market deserves”, she added.
The new fund will be used to expand the company’s operational presence, strengthen its team across different markets, consolidate its product offerings, and plot market penetration across Africa, while rapidly scaling new use cases for cryptocurrency within the continent. The seed funding will also be used to consolidate the footprint of its virtual domiciliary account product, Changera.
