Yellow Card, a pan-African cryptocurrency exchange, has raised $15 million in a Series A round, the largest ever raised by an African cryptocurrency exchange, to expand its personnel and expand across the continent.
Square, Inc., Blockchain.com Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, BlockFi, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership, MoonPay, GreenHouse Capital, and others participated in the round, which was led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures.
Yellow Card, which was launched in 2018, allows anyone in Africa to buy cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT Stablecoin using cash, mobile money, a credit card, or a bank transfer.
Since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has grown to have a presence in 12 African countries, with a nearly 30X increase in consumers. Its Series A capital round will be used to expand the company’s operations and workforce, which now numbers 110 people
“Our mission has always been to make cryptocurrency accessible anywhere and everywhere across the African continent. Now, we have the backing to make that a reality, alongside an amazing team of investors who share our vision,” said Chris Maurice, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Yellow Card.
Valar Ventures’ James Fitzgerald said Africa was poised to benefit tremendously from cryptocurrency’s potential to transform financial services.
“We believe in Yellow Card’s vision of a pan-African cryptocurrency platform. What cemented the deal is their multi-national team, which we believe has the local knowledge, technical expertise, and unequivocal passion to address the basic financial services needs of the continent,” he said.