Nigeria: Yellow Card Cryptocurrency Startup Raises $1.5 million In Funding Round

Yellow Card, a Nigerian crypto startup has secured over $1.5 million in a seed funding round. The startup says it will use the funding to further expand its operations across Africa and also make it easier for people to buy and sell digital assets.

The investments came from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, cryptocurrency investment firm Polychain Capital,and Celo through the Celo Ecosystem Fund.

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

Also, the firm recently added 30,000 new vendors after expanding into South Africa and Botswana.

Additionally, the firm also announced that it will be launching its services in Kenya and Cameroon starting from 1st September.

Yellow Card further added that Jason Marshall, former senior director of payment services at Walmart, has now joined its team as the new Chief Operating Officer.

Chris Maurice and Justin Poiroux founded Yellow Card in 2016 with the intent to create a Bitcoin gift card. The company later evolved into a cryptocurrency exchange as an alternative to the high costs of sending money to Nigeria through the traditional banking system.

The firm says it has the mission of bringing Bitcoin to Africa with the objective of “basic financial services for all”.

Yellow Card has processed $35 million dollars in transactions with over 35,000 merchants with the help of one of Nigeria’s leading cryptocurrency traders, Munachi Ogueke.