Bitrefill Closes $2M Funding to Grow Team and Advance Lightning Network Services
Coindesk article: https://twitter.com/coindesk/status/1139156666920972288
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, June 13 – Bitrefill, a company that helps customers live on cryptocurrency, has successfully closed a $2M late seed round with a number of distinguished investors from the global cryptocurrency community. The round was led by Coin Ninja, with participation from Charlie Lee, Fulgur Ventures, Bnktothefuture, et al.
The funding round will allow the company to continue to build its suite of products and services for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, as well as expand into new international markets to enable more people to convert their coins into goods and services. Bitrefill intends to strengthen its development and marketing teams for further growth.
“We see it as a big token of trust that investors from the Bitcoin and broader cryptocurrency community have chosen to put their money behind us and support us in our growth journey.” - Sergej Kotliar, Founder & CEO, Bitrefill
Bitrefill’s gift card sales saw notable growth during the Bitcoin bear market of 2018 and accelerated in Q1 2019. Currently, the biggest product selections are for US and European customers, and the plan is to roll out a number of new products for selected other countries around the world throughout 2019. The team currently consists of 16 people with deep cryptocurrency industry knowledge and startup operational experience based in several countries around the world. The influx of cash from this funding round will allow the company to strengthen the team further, mainly growing the number of employees out of their HQ in Stockholm.
Bitrefill identified in 2017 that the Lightning Network is the most viable solution for scalable cryptocurrency payments and decided to make it a core competency of the company. They were first to market with payment acceptance remain the largest commercial actor on the Lightning Network. In 2019, they released the Thor & Thor Turbo products, which assist with onboarding to the Lightning Network. These services are newly available via a new ThorAPI service, allowing any platform to integrate seamless channel creation, capacity management, and Bitcoin refills from Bitrefill with minimal friction.
About Bitrefill: Bitrefill allows anyone to purchase gift cards or mobile refills from more than 1,650 businesses in 170 countries. Pay safely and privately with Bitcoin, Lightning and other cryptocurrencies. Founded in 2015, by Sergej Kotliar
and co-founders Michael Grünberger and Michel Gustavsson. https://bitrefill.com,
https://www.bitrefill.com/thor-turbo-channels, https://www.bitrefill.com/thor-lightning-network-channels/
“We are thrilled to invest and support Bitrefill. They have been building a stellar team and product experience for multiple years in the space. They provide a standard of execution that other companies should model.” Kyle Stalzer, Coin Ninja, https://coinninja.com
“Bitrefill is helping to make living on cryptocurrency easier and I am excited to help them grow. Their participation on the Lighting Network opens up even more potential for Bitcoin and beyond.” Charlie Lee
“Fulgur Ventures acknowledges Bitrefill contribution to the development and business use of the Lightning Network which in turn helps adoption of Bitcoin as a decentralized financial system. Bitrefill has a unique talent pool and market position to help drive this adoption.” Oleg Mikhalsky, Fulgur Ventures, https://fulgur.ventures
Submitted June 13, 2019 at 06:23PM by bitrefill http://bit.ly/2ML474I
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