Crypto exchange Luno announces early-stage investment arm
Luno, a global cryptocurrency company, has launched an investment arm called Luno Expeditions, which will support early-stage fintech and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and plans to make 200 to 300 investments per year.
Luno, which has over nine million customers and operates in 43 countries across Africa, Southeast Asia, the United States (US), and Europe, makes it safe and easy to buy, store, and learn about cryptocurrencies.
Luno Expeditions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), has announced the launch of a global, early-stage investment arm to support the best fintech and crypto/web3 founders on their journeys to build the next generation of financial services.
Luno Expeditions will now lead all of DCG’s early stage investing, at the seed and pre-seed stages, building on DCG’s seven-year track record in early-stage crypto investing. While still in stealth mode, it has already invested in over 20 leading crypto and fintech companies around the world, including a crypto compliance solution in Israel, an NFT marketplace in the US, a bank dedicated to women in Pakistan, and a remittance solution in Tanzania.
The team will then scale up investments, aiming for 200-300 per year, and broaden its focus beyond crypto into the broader fintech space.
“These are extremely exciting times in the cryptocurrency and wider fintech ecosystem.” We have ambitious plans to create a leading fund focused on the needs of early-stage founders. “It will be an honor to work with ambitious entrepreneurs from all over the world, all intent on solving problems and building the next generation of financial service companies,” said Jocelyn Cheng, who will take over as CEO of Luno Expeditions.
“We know how difficult it is to build a company, particularly in the fintech space, and with our deep experience building, scaling, and operating fintech businesses in some of the world’s most difficult markets, we’re looking to help a new generation of entrepreneurs from all over the world do the same,” said Marcus Swanepoel, co-founder and CEO of Luno.
