South African Bitcoin Startup Centbee Raises USD 1.3 Mn In Series A Round

Johannesburg-based Bitcoin wallet and merchant payment company Centbee has made known the closure of its Series A round worth USD 1.3 million with entrepreneur Calvin Ayre, founder of Antigua-based investment firm Ayre Ventures and CoinGeek.

Founded in 2017 by co-CEOs Lorien Gamaroff and Angus Brown, Centbee is a payment company specialising in merchant payments, cross-border remittances and other cryptocurrency related products. It is a bitcoin wallet provider that makes it easy for consumers to acquire, store and spend Bitcoin with retailers and other merchants.

The deal was facilitated by nChain, a blockchain advisory, research and development firm which previously took an equity stake in Centbee in January 2018 at an undisclosed amount.

Centbee will use the investment raised for product development, scaling and growth.

Calvin Ayre in a statement said, “Centbee has a track record of making Bitcoin easily usable and accessible to everyone, including merchants and consumers. They support the original Bitcoin protocol in the form of Bitcoin SV, and have demonstrated an extraordinary ability to attract users and we’re proud to support their further growth.”

Jimmy Nguyen, chairman of nChain Group’s strategic advisory board and founding president of the Bitcoin Association gave his sentiments on the same. He said, “Centbee has one of the most user-friendly Bitcoin wallets and merchant payment solutions we have seen.

“It is built using the original Bitcoin protocol, now alive only in the form of Bitcoin SV, which has a plan for massive blockchain scaling. This enables Centbee to offer low fees and fast transaction speeds. We will continue to work with Centbee as it sparks greater merchant and consumer adoption of Bitcoin BSV in Africa and worldwide.”

Additionally, nChain will support Centbee with its technical consulting services and access to its intellectual property portfolio, which is aimed at benefiting growth of the BSV blockchain.

The company says it supports Bitcoin SV because it is the only blockchain that fulfils the original Bitcoin design and protocol.

Co-founder Angus Brown who has 20 years’ experience in payments and banking said, “Centbee has made it easy for customers to buy Bitcoin SV at over 50 000 till points in South Africa,” says Brown. “Through this, we will help people move money simply and cheaply across borders to support family and friends. The investment will be used for product development, scaling and growth.”

Centbee is a gold member of AlphaCode, powered by Rand Merchant Investment Holdings, which identifies, partners and grows disruptive and scalable fintech businesses.

Head of AlphaCode Dominique Collett said, “We are delighted that Centbee has attracted the interest of two of the world’s most prestigious investors in the crypto-currency and blockchain space. It certainly augurs well for the growth and development of Centbee and Bitcoin SV globally.”

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