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MoneyBadger, a South African fintech startup enabling crypto payments at retail tills, has secured $400,000 (R7 million) in pre-seed funding to scale its payments platform.
The round was led by P1 Ventures, an early-stage VC firm with a strong Africa fintech thesis, and joined by three angel investors with deep ties to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The capital, part of which was raised in Bitcoin, will be used to grow MoneyBadger’s retail footprint, expand merchant partnerships, and broaden its use cases in a region where crypto is increasingly used not for speculation, but for spending.
“We envision a future where you can buy anything and everything with Bitcoin,” said Carel van Wyk, MoneyBadger CEO and co-founder. “This raise gives us the fuel to expand that future, today.”
From Prototype to National Rollout
MoneyBadger was born out of a request from South African retail giant Pick n Pay, which in 2023 sought to integrate Bitcoin payments at its point-of-sale systems. Thanks to advances in the Bitcoin Lightning Network, the company quickly developed a fast, low-cost prototype—one that would soon prove its utility at scale.
Today, Bitcoin payments powered by MoneyBadger are accepted at over 1,600 Pick n Pay locations, including supermarkets, clothing stores, express shops, and hypermarkets.
Bitcoin may still be controversial in boardrooms across the West, but in South Africa, it’s already being used to buy groceries.
The company has integrated with major crypto wallets like Binance, Luno, VALR, and AltCoinTrader, and its proprietary QR payment infrastructure is now part of Luno, VALR, Blink, and Aqua’s mobile offerings.
“Bitcoin payments today are cheaper and faster than credit card tap-to-pay,” Van Wyk said. “And they work.”
A Team of Crypto-Native Builders
MoneyBadger is helmed by veterans of Africa’s fintech and crypto scenes. Van Wyk previously co-founded Luno, Africa’s leading crypto exchange, while co-founder Carl Kritzinger built FireWorks, a retail and loyalty tech platform.
Other members of the leadership team include:
- Ben Blaine, Head of Growth and former SnapScan marketing executive
- Brent Peterson, Head of Legal & Compliance, and Chair of the Crypto Asset Association of South Africa
- Jacques Marais, Full Stack Engineer with deep experience in payments infrastructure
Together, the team is leveraging South Africa’s strong crypto adoption and regulatory clarity to make digital assets spendable at scale—not just tradable.
Riding the Bitcoin Boom
Bitcoin adoption in South Africa has tracked global growth. Since early 2022, the price of Bitcoin has surged 128%, recently topping $108,000.
That momentum is translating into real-world transactions: MoneyBadger reports monthly volumes exceeding $83,000 (R1.4 million) across its merchant network. Pick n Pay alone processes more than R1 million in crypto payments each month, according to Deven Moodley, Executive Head of Value-Added Services at Pick n Pay.
“Crypto is now a core part of our Ways2Pay strategy,” said Moodley. “Our partnership with MoneyBadger helps us build a more inclusive and flexible payments ecosystem.”
Customers can use crypto not only for groceries, but also to purchase airtime, pay electricity bills, and buy travel tickets—all from their digital wallets.
Scaling the Bitcoin Economy in Africa
With the new funding, MoneyBadger plans to broaden its reach by partnering with Tier 1 merchant payment providers, ecommerce platforms, and QR code-based payment networks.
It aims to bring crypto payments to more countries and more industries, offering a scalable alternative to the fragmented legacy banking infrastructure in parts of Africa.
“While the West debates regulation, MoneyBadger is already delivering real-world utility,” said Hisham Halbouny, Managing Partner at P1 Ventures. “This team understands payments at the protocol level. They’re not just talking about the future of crypto—they’re building it.”
Bridging Retail and Open Finance
MoneyBadger sees itself as an infrastructure company, not just a payments app. It wants to be the bridge between permissionless innovation and mainstream commerce, offering merchants an alternative to high-fee, card-based systems and giving consumers a modern tool to manage financial transactions on their own terms.
“Bitcoin isn’t just an asset—it’s a better form of money,” Van Wyk said. “We’re building tools that make it spendable, accessible, and usable across everyday life.”
With the rise of stablecoins, Lightning-enabled wallets, and crypto-native APIs, the lines between fintech and crypto are blurring—and MoneyBadger is betting that Africa could lead the charge.