How BitPesa Plans to Reduce Friction in the Remittances Market
The global remittances industry is now worth over $500bn a year and, for bitcoin advocates, it represents unimpeachable proof of the need for decentralized digital currency. With high fees on international money transfers and few players in the market, the space is, to use the cliché, ripe for disruption. Enter BitPesa, a bitcoin remittances company that integrates with Kenya's mobile money system M-Pesa. Its success in challenging giants like Western Union in the Kenyan market will signal whether or not bitcoin can compete in the remittances market globally. Social business. BitPesa CEO....
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Bitcoin is making progress growing throughout emerging markets worldwide. Africa seems to be the next area for growth in the market of international currency transfers and remittances, via the Bitcoin startup BitPesa. Now, with the help of California's Pantera Capital Management LP, BitPesa has received over $1 million USD in new funding for their burgeoning Bitcoin operations in Africa. In business since November of 2013, BitPesa has started sales of Bitcoin in Kenya and Ghana, and now has a team of 9 full-time employees. BitPesa's growth has been featured on the World bank's website and....
BitFury is a well-respected company in the Bitcoin community, as they are a hardware manufacturer as well as a company helping with validating transactions. In one of their recent announcements, the company mentioned how they made a strategic investment in BitPesa. This investment will help grow the Bitcoin trading platform and universal payment solution offered by BitPesa. BitFury Investment in BitPesa. It may sound strange on paper to hear BitFury has taken an interest in BitPesa, let alone invest in the company. But both businesses share a similar goal, as they want to increase....
BitPesa.co, a new global remittance company servicing Kenya's ever-expanding population, is planning to use bitcoin. The company is targeting Kenya's $1.17bn annual remittance market by offering a 3% cut-rate fee on all transfers, Bloomberg Businessweek reported today. Bitpesa's CEO Elizabeth Rossiello said the new service is aiming to gain 1% of Kenya's remittance market within a year of launching in March 2014: a figure that will equate to roughly 6,500 transactions per month. According to Rossiello: "There are no other market entrants trying to solve the problem of the very high cost of....
Tap Send, the creator of a remittances app of the same name, revealed it has raised $65 million in a Series B funding round. The fintech firm plans to use the funds to build a cheaper and faster cross-border money transfer platform. Remittances to Overlooked Countries The fintech startup behind the remittances app, Tap Send, recently said it has raised $65 million in a Series B funding round. According to the startup, the funds raised will be used to bolster remittances to the most overlooked countries in Africa and Asia. As stated in a Techcrunch report, Tap Send’s latest capital....
Started in Nairobi, Kenya a little more than year ago, Bitpesa’s mission was to bring cheaper and faster remittances powered by bitcoins to Africa. The company has continued to pursue their mission but has came to an important milestone, with the announcement that has raised $1.1m in a funding round led by Pantera Capital. Other investors included Crypto Currency Partners, Stephens Investment Management, and previous investors; the Bitcoin Opportunity Corporation and Future/Perfect Ventures. Pantera Capital’s CEO, Dan Morehead, has joined the company as a board member and will be taking a....