Digital currency startup Luno raises US$9M Series B, further expands in Europe
Luno expanded to 35 new markets following its latest funding round led by Balderton Capital
Digital currency startup Luno announced today that it has raised a US$9 million Series B funding round led by Europe-based venture capital firm Balderton Capital.
Announced in a blog post by Luno co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel, the funding round also includes the participation of Alpha Code, the fintech investment arm of Rand Merchant Investment Holdings (RMI).
Existing investors such as Digital Currency Group, Naspers, and Venturra Capital also participated in the current round.
Swanepoel explained that the company will use the funding for product development and talent acquisition.
” … We’ll at the very least be doubling our existing team of 70 and hiring across all units, from engineering and product to business development, customer support and compliance, across all three of our main hubs: our HQ in London, and offices in Singapore and Cape Town,” he wrote.
Luno also launched its services in new European markets, bringing its presence to a total of 40 countries.
The company first entered the European market through its launch in the UK in 2016.
Formerly known as BitX, Luno claimed to be the first in the world to build a fully-integrated Bitcoin pilot system for a major bank in 2014.
Throughout the years, it has launched consumer wallets, exchanges, and merchant services in Southeast Asia and Africa.
The company raised its Series A funding round in July 2015, led by Naspers.
Blockchains and cryptocurrency have been making headlines this year.
As the popularity of initial coin offerings (ICO) as a method for fundraising soars, with the latest example being Singapore-based Indorse, countries such as China further continued its crackdown on cryptocurrency by considering to ban Bitcoin exchanges within the country.
While the ban would not outlaw Bitcoin as a whole, it would make it illegal to buy and sell the cryptocurrency on domestic exchanges.
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