African Venture Capital Director Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange
African Venture Capital Director Bademosi has announced that he is launching a fintech investment arm to invest in crypto projects. He will continue to work as a partner at Lightspeed while starting the crypto fund and investing between $50,000 and $250,000 in each startup. Visit crypto trader to start crypto trading.
This move is significant as it signals the growth potential of Africa’s cryptocurrency market. It is not yet clear if the fund will make any investments in the crypto market in its early stage, but Bademosi hopes to leverage this expertise with the founders of the new companies.
Bademosi is an African Venture Capital Director
Yele Bademosi is an African Venture Capital Manager and the Director of Binance Labs, the company’s cryptocurrency exchange. Previously, he managed a startup in Africa called Starta, where he provided education, tools, and networking opportunities to startup companies.
Later, he founded an angel investing firm called Microtraction and invested in several African startups, including three from Nigeria. He also worked for Facebook and helped launch Libra, a cryptocurrency exchange for African entrepreneurs.
Despite the hype around the rise of crypto in Africa, the continent has been hesitant to adopt it, largely due to the lack of resources. While cryptocurrencies are increasingly becoming more accessible in the U.S., major hurdles are still to overcome before they become widely accepted in Africa.
As a result, African startups need to be useful and inclusive. Bundle, a social payment app similar to Venmo, aims to change this by providing an easy way to transfer cash in Africa. Additionally, it will allow users to store their digital assets, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
He has since stepped down as chief executive but remains active with the startup. Before launching his crypto exchange, Bademosi was a founding partner at Nigeria-based VC firm Microtraction. Microtraction was one of the earliest investors in cryptocurrency companies and invested in the Nigerian startup Buy coins, which grew into the holding company Helicarrier.
VALR, the South African cryptocurrency exchange, has raised $50 million in Series B funding. This round puts the company’s valuation at $240 million, or about R3.7 billion. In addition to Pantera Capital, other investors included Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures, Cadenza, and Distributed Global. Avon Ventures and Third Prime also participated in the round. The South African venture capital firm’s investment is related to Fidelity Investments.
The newly-founded Luno cryptocurrency exchange recently announced the launch of a new investment arm. The new Luno Expeditions will focus on fintech, web3, and crypto startups to fund 200 to 300 companies annually. Luno Expeditions will invest between $50,000 and $250,000 in each company to diversify into other sectors.
Luno is already investing in remittance solutions such as Nala in Tanzania and Oraan, a digital bank for Pakistani women called Oraan, in Israel. Luno Expeditions will also invest in African crypto exchange platform Busha and web3 company Stitch and Root.
This investment arm will also target companies developing blockchain and crypto technology. Many people are using bitcoin trading software because it makes crypto transactions easy for them. The fund is based in London and will soon expand into pre-seed and seed stages. Luno Expeditions will also support founders across five continents.
Luno, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Africa, recently launched an investment arm, Luno Expeditions. The objective of the new fund is to invest in early-stage crypto, fintech, and Web3 startups globally. The fund aims to invest in 200-300 startups per year and focus on early-stage and digital-asset companies. Luno focuses on Africa and intends to expand its focus into the U.S. market in the coming years.
Final Words
A crypto fund started by a leading African venture capitalist has launched an exchange that will allow users to trade cryptocurrencies. The fund consists of protocol design, token launching, and market-making experts. Take a look at the above-mentioned post carefully so you can know crypto work in Africa.
The team hopes to leverage this expertise and bring this to bear on founders’ projects. In addition to launching an exchange, the fund will utilize the services of its legal and compliance team. Its founders have already secured funding and will be working to make their cryptocurrency exchange a success.
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