US-based and Africa-focused blockchain payments startup Bitmama has raised an additional $1.65 million in funding, bringing its total pre-seed round to $2 million. This new funding was led by Unicorn Growth Capital & Launch Africa Ventures. Other participants include Tekedia Capital, GreenHouse Capital, ODBA, Five35 Ventures, Chrysalis Capital, Enrich Africa, Thrive Africa, Angellist Ventures, and angel investors including CELO founders: Rene Reinsberg, and Marek Olszewski, and Honey Ogundeyi. 

The startup had initially $350,000 pre-seed which was raised in October 2021 and included investors Unicorn Growth Capital, Launch Africa Ventures, Adaverse and Flori Ventures.

According to the startup, the funding will be used to expand the company’s operational presence in new markets, strengthen its team across, consolidate its product offerings, and plot market penetration across Africa.

Bitmama currently operates in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. With Bitmama, users can trade several cryptocurrencies, use their debit cards for regular online payments, pay utilities and perform transactions such as staking to hedge against currency devaluation.  

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Speaking on the funding round, Ruth Iselema, founder and CEO of Bitmama, stated that both products are approaching 100,000 users across the African market and recording impressive daily active users.

“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,” she added.

For Five35 Ventures, founding partner Hema Vallabh stated: “Being a leading female-focused VC fund, we at Five35 Ventures look forward to helping Ruth and her dynamic team scale Bitmama, especially seeing the growth of Changera, the remittance platform that allows all Africans to transact internationally at much cheaper rates than established remittance companies in the market.”