YellowCard, a pan African crypto exchange, has raised $15 million in Series A funding which it says will go towards its expansion across the continent.
The round was led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures. Some of the other participants in the round include:
- Square
- Blockchain.com ventures
- Coinbase Ventures
- Polychain Capital
- BlockFi
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According to Chris Maurice, who is the CEO and Co-Founder, the round will bring them closer to their mission of making cryptocurencies available all over the continent.
“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.”
– CEO, YellowCard
Since launching in Nigeria in 2018, the crypto startup has grown its presence across Africa to 12 markets, employing over 110 employees spread out in 16 countries.
YellowCard has seen its customer base grow by nearly 30x since the pandemic.
YellowCard supports 14 languages in total, out of which, 10 are local African languages.
According to Valar Ventures, the lead investors, Africa is poised to benefit tremendously from cryptocurencies potential to transform financial services. The investor further believes that Yellow Card is the right platform to fulfill this potential in Africa.
“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.”
– Valar Ventures
YellowCard exchange is available in the following countries so far:
- Cameroon
- Kenya
- Nigeria
- South Africa
- Botswana
- Rwanda
- Tanzania
- Ghana
- Zambia
- Uganda
- Gabon
- Malawi
Going by the recent 2021 Chainlysis report which saw over 1, 200% growth in crypto adoption in Africa, YellowCard is looking to expand and be available in more African countries following the raise.
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