Kenya’s million dollar bitcoin startup BitPesa expands to Tanzania

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Kenyan bitcoin startup BitPesa is expanding to neighbouring Tanzania about a year after it launched its mobile-friendly digital currency exchange. Since then, the innovative company has raised a total of US$1.8-million from international investors and is slowly but surely expanding across Africa with other emerging markets in its sights as well.

Company CEO Elizabeth Rossiello recently spoke at the Bitcoin Africa Conference in Cape Town where she highlighted the real need bitcoin technology can address in the continent’s financial services sector.

“We’re the first company on the planet to link mobile money with bitcoin,” she boasted. “About 97% of the people in Kenya use mobile money. In Tanzania it’s even better. We call it mobile money 2.0 where they have three key operators using it instead of one company.”

“Instead of sending bitcoin to another bank account or bitcoin wallet, you can actually send bitcoin to someone’s mobile wallet using their contact number in real-time,” Rossiello said.

Source: Venture Burn (link opens in a new window)

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digital payments, mobile finance