African crypto exchange Yellow Card in R227-million funding round

Africa-focused cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card has raised US$15-million (R227-million) in a series-A venture capital funding round.

The round, led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime and Castle Island with participation from Square, Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures, Polychain Capital, BlockFi, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership, MoonPay, GreenHouse Capital and others, is the “largest ever by an African cryptocurrency exchange”, the company claimed in a statement.

The company plans to use the money to “ramp up hiring and continue its expansion across the continent”, it said.

Yellow Card was launched in Nigeria in 2018 and is led by co-founder and CEO Chris Maurice. It offers bitcoin, ether, the USDT stablecoin and other cryptocurrencies to African consumers.

It has a presence in 12 countries in Africa and has 110 employees.

The markets where it is currently available are Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, Uganda, Gabon and Malawi. It said it plans to launch in more African countries later this year.  – © 2021 NewsCentral Media