Nigerian Crypto Startup, Yellow Card Raises $1.5 Million Seed Capital To Expand Operations in Africa

Yellow Card, a Nigerian-based cryptocurrency exchange startup, has raised $1.5million in seed capital to extend its reach to new markets in Africa.

Polychain, along with Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and the Celo Ecosystem Fund were among investors who participated in the $1.5 million seed funding round, according to Yellow Card.

“With this funding, Yellow Card plans to expand even further and become the dominant exchange across the continent.”

Yellow Card Statement

The company has also announced that it will launch its services in Cameroon and Kenya in September. It also stated that Jason Marshall, former senior director of payment services at Walmart, has joined the team as its Chief Operating Officer.

About the Company

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.

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Yellow Card offers a gateway with multiple payment options, low fees and competitive rates for users to buy, sell and store bitcoin. The platform displays updated market prices of other cryptos such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin cash and Dash.

Multiple payment options offered by Yellow Card include cash, credit cards, and bank wire transfer to trade cryptocurrency.

The crypto startup says it has processed transactions worth over $35 million in Nigeria alone. Nigeria currently leads Africa in peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions, followed by South Africa and Kenya.

Other notable funding rounds by Nigerian blockchain-driven startups include Bitfxt’s $15 million Series A funding investment in February and Nigerian fintech, Jamborow’s $400,000 seed funding to launch in June.