Singapore Bitcoin startup gets $4M from Naspers and Digital Currency Group

Bitcoin is in an interesting phase. With the flight of speculators following the crash of Bitcoin prices, startups in the space are making a slow climb up the “slope of enlightenment” in the hype cycle. It’s where the rubber meets the road.

The sudden interest of banks in cryptocurrency however does present hope. And perhaps so does this piece of news: South African media conglomerate Naspers, through its payment processor subsidiary PayU, has led a US$4 million series A round in BitX, a Singapore-based Bitcoin startup operating a wallet, several exchanges, and merchant integration services.

Marcus Swanepoel, founder of BitX

Digital Currency Group, an investment firm focusing on Bitcoin enterprises, joined the round too. It’s founded by Barry Silbert, a known name in the cryptocurrency world. The firm has backed prominent Bitcoin startups like Bitpay, Coinbase, and Circle.

BitX co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel claims the startup has experienced “strong growth” in the past year, especially from emerging markets. Its services are available in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Responding to queries by Tech in Asia, the founder says he can’t disclose exact numbers. However, he did say the wallet, specifically its instant buy and sell feature, is doing well in both registered and active users.

“Let’s just put it this way, we’re having to hire more customer support staff to deal with all the Know Your Customer [compliance] and onboarding,” he adds.

Founded in 2013, the startup raised its first round of funding in August 2014. It then launched a slick Bitcoin wallet for the iOS and Android a few months later.

Asia is still seeing Bitcoin entrepreneurs attempting to innovate. Besides BitX, there’s Coins.ph, who’s turning ordinary people into Bitcoin ATMs. Meanwhile, another Philippine startup is attempting to turn Bitcoin into a virtual currency for games which players can redeem for real rewards.