BEVERLY HILLS, September 04, (THEWILL) – Yellow Card, a Nigerian-based cryptocurrency exchange startup, has raised $1.5million in seed capital to extend its reach to new markets in Africa.
Investors who participated in the $1.5 million seed funding round includes Polychain, along with Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and the Celo Ecosystem Fund.
“With this funding, Yellow Card plans to expand even further and become the dominant exchange across the continent,” it said.
The company has also announced that it will launch its services in Cameroon and Kenya in September adding that Jason Marshall, former senior director of payment services at Walmart, has joined the team as its Chief Operating Officer.
Yellow Card was founded in 2016 by Chris Maurice and Justin Poiroux with the objective of creating a Bitcoin gift card.
In 2018, Chris and Justin reportedly met a man who was charged $90 by a Wells Fargo branch for trying to send $200 dollars to his family in Nigeria. Munachi Ogueke then joined the team to realise their mission of bringing Bitcoin to Nigeria and Africa at large.
The company began operations in Nigeria in 2016 with 35,000 merchants and has so far expanded to South Africa and Botswana. It recently commenced its services in the two countries, adding 30,000 new merchants in the process.
