The Mexican exchange platform has more than 1 million active users. Currently, it maintains operations in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil.
In recent days, the Mexican exchange for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Bitso, announced that it had raised USD 62 million in a Series B investment round. Kaszek Ventures and QED Investors, who are participating for the first time in the Bitcoin ecosystem, provided the funds.
The capital that the exchange raised will allow its expansion in the Latin American market, they reported. At the moment, the startup is operating in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. The total number of active users that Bitso manages in the region exceeds 1 million.
“This round will finance our global strategy to continue offering the Bitso platform in other Latin American countries, with a particular focus on Brazil. Our mission is to provide universal access to cryptocurrencies and make them useful in people’s lives,” said Daniel Vogel, CEO of Bitso.
The company’s board of directors will now include representatives from both investment funds. Coinbase and Pantera Capital, among other shareholders, took part in the financing round, which speaks highly of the Mexican startup.
Bitso Expands the Use of Bitcoin in Latin America
Bitso said that it has more than 95% of the share in the Mexican market and another significant percentage in the Argentine market, where multiple exchanges have already established themselves. However, there are no figures yet on its market penetration in Brazil. Concerning the latter case, the company specified that it will target its marketing strategy there.
It is not yet clear in which other countries of the region the Mexican exchange could start operations. In Latin America, there is a significant volume of transactions with Bitcoin in countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, and Chile. Since each case is particular, they receive attention in different ways: through local startups or international companies that offer support in the national fiat currencies of each country.
Bitso also mentioned the fact that the funds will serve to support its technical and engineering team. They seek to develop new products related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to meet the growing demand in the region.
In July 2019, Bitso became the first exchange in Latin America to receive a license to operate in Europe. At the time, the startup got permission to operate under Gibraltar’s regulatory framework.
It is not the first time that Bitso has announced the raising of funds from investors. In October 2019, the exchange received capital from Ripple to conduct the operations that currently exist in Argentina, and Brazil.
Regina Puca, Bitso’s public policy and regulation analyst, reported that the platform served to process 3.5% of all the remittances that entered Mexico last January.
By Alexander Salazar
