International peer-to-peer bitcoin lending platform Bitbond yesterday announced its seed funding round led by prominent European early-stage VC Point Nine Capital (Update – May 2023: The startup seems to be no longer in business under this website, and we therefore deactivated the original link). Nelson Holzner, the CEO of BillPay, also contributed as an angel investor to the €200K (close to £160K) funding round.
As you might already know, Bitbond, based in Berlin, provides a peer-to-peer bitcoin lending platform that lowers the barriers for small businesses to receive financing, including short and long term bitcoin loans, after going through a credit review process. By using cryptocurrency bitcoin, Bitbond users do not need a bank account to make transactions, pay lower fees and earn higher interest as lenders.
Bitbond will use the seed funding round to build a team of programmers, enhance the functionality of its platform and intensify its marketing activities. Radoslav Albrecht, founder and CEO of Bitbond, said: “This seed funding round will help us reach our goal of making financing and investing in businesses globally accessible and independent of the banking system. The additional resources will be used to ramp-up our team and to improve the customer experience. We are looking forward to having Point Nine Capital and Nelson Holzner on board as both have extensive experience in the fintech space.”
As the Berlin-based firm Point Nine Capital specialises in investing in SaaS startups and digital marketplaces, this funding round marks its first investment in a bitcoin startup and its confidence in the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Pawel Chudzinski, cofounder and Managing Partner at Point Nine Capital, said: “Our investment in Bitbond is a great fit for our strategy to invest in marketplace models and fintech startups. We are excited to see bitcoin being applied to create an international loan marketplace. The founding team has strong expertise in bitcoin, tech and finance, which played a crucial role in our investment decision.”
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