Mara, a team building several crypto products with Africa first in mind, has raised $23 million in funding to go towards their efforts. The aim is to create a portal to the crypto economy for Africans.
The funding saw a host of participants led by:
- Coinbase Ventures
- Alameda Research (FTX)
- Distributed Global
- Nexo
- Huobi Ventures
In addition, Mara announced a partnership with the Central African Republic, which just passed a bill legalizing Bitcoin as legal tender.
As part of this partnership, Mara will become the official crypto partner of the Central African Republic and an adviser to the president on crypto strategy and planning.
According to a press statement annoucing the raise:
“MARA ushers in a long-awaited revolution in what crypto represents. We aim to bring trust and normality to crypto and blockchain, demystifying technology and helping over 1 billion Africans learn and build digital wealth through blockchain with ease.“
– Mara
The Mara suite of products addresses a variety of crypto-finance needs while complying with local regulations and building authentically for the African audience.
The features include:
- Mara Wallet – A brokerage app offering the crypto-curious user a friendly, distilled experience through which they can buy, send, sell, and withdraw both fiat and crypto assets instantly and without any prior crypto knowledge
- Pro-Exchange – A cryptocurrency platform focused on experienced users that offers a comprehensive suite of trading options and technical analysis tools
- Mara Chain – A Layer-1 blockchain, powered by the native Mara token, that gives savvy developers a place to build decentralized applications that will help shape the future of the African crypto economy
The Mara executive team is led by Chi Nnadi, Lucas Llinás Múnera, Dearg OBartuin, and Kate Kallot. It is joined by board advisers Kojo Annan and Tatiana Koffman. They are former executives from:
- Amazon
- PayPal
- Uber
- Nvidia
- Founders Bank
- Rappi
Mara has already built up to 80 employees, with two-thirds of them working in-house and the rest outsourced developers.
Mara will initially launch in Kenya, Nigeria, and surrounding regions.
The Mara Wallet app will be available in the App Store and Google Play stores. Pre-registered users will join a queue to enable early access on a first-come, first-served basis.
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RECOMMENDED READING: How Currency Depreciation is Driving Crypto Adoption Across Africa – A Look at 6 African Currencies
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