Crypto start-up Bitmama closes pre-seed round

African blockchain company Bitmama has closed a $350,000 pre-Seed round, led by Flori Ventures, with participation from Nigeria-based investment fund Emergence Capital, Fedha Capital, and a host of VCs and angel investors.

The Bitmama pre-seed round will be used to grow its operational presence, expand its team, and penetrate new markets across the continent, while rapidly scaling crypto and payment solutions in Africa. 

Bitmama provides a secured blockchain infrastructure that allows users across Africa to perform cryptocurrency transactions. With users across Nigeria and Ghana, Bitmama has recorded more than $6 million in transaction volume this year, alone.

Users on the platform are able to transact Bitcoin, Ethereum, Celo and six other cryptocurrencies currently listed, while enjoying seamless, secure, reliable and transparent transaction processes.

Simultaneously, Bitmama’s flagship payment solution, Changera, enables cross-border payment and remittance for businesses and individuals in Africa and globally. Customers are broadly pan-African/global users who are currently seeking the most efficient means of making payments cross-border.

While Africa is regarded as one of the biggest markets in the global cryptocurrency and payment space, its growth is still a fraction compared to the global volume.

The usual alternative for cryptocurrencies traders and businesses accepting crypto as payments is peer-2-peer and OTCs which could prove dangerous and unsafe due to scam proliferation.

Bitmama’s rigorous 3-tier verification process is designed to ensure the safety of honest traders in the system and inhibition of ingenuine users.

Speaking on the pre-Seed round, Ruth Iselema, founder & CEO of Bitmama Inc. said “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.

The continent is also home to Nigeria, the second largest crypto market globally, which records an average of over $3 million in daily trading volume.

We believe the continent’s crypto landscape will experience massive growth in user base and trading volumes in the next couple of years and we are aiming to build an efficient blockchain infrastructure that is firm and flexible enough to help users navigate complexities and facilitate secure cryptocurrency transactions across the continent.

Expressing enthusiasm on the investment, Maria Alegre, General Partner and Co-founder of Flori Ventures said “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”.

Akin Asalu, COO of Bitmama, believes that challenges precede the best of solutions. “History has proven that complications are paramount to breaking new grounds. Although the blockchain space in Africa is a complex landscape to navigate in terms of regulation and adoption, we can’t ignore the numerous use cases that exist.

And as new innovations like 5G push through the continent, even the most remote areas will be willing to explore the diverse opportunities presented by emerging technologies such as blockchain and the possibilities of cryptocurrencies. Bitmama is positioned to drive the awareness and adoption of crypto in Africa.

We have distributed a remote team across the continent and we plan to build more blockchain-powered solutions to advance our mission.”

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