Kenyan bitcoin remittance startup BitPesa has expanded its operations to Tanzania after its recent funding round, also adding new features to accompany the launch.
Disrupt Africa reported in January BitPesa, which allows individuals to remit money in bitcoin the startup then converts into physical currency, had raised follow-on funding of US$1.1 million for expansion to Tanzania and Uganda.
The funding round took BitPesa’s total investment to over US$1.7 million, with the latest raise lead by Pantera Capital Management with support from Crypto Currency Partners, Stephens Investment Management and existing shareholders such as the Bitcoin Opportunity Corporation and Future/Perfect Ventures.
“To grow alongside our customers we moved south across the map and launched in our second country,” BitPesa said.
“You can now make a payment to any Tanzanian mobile money number instantly from anywhere in the world for just three per cent. All major mobile money operators are included.”
Alongside the launch in Tanzania, BitPesa said it had been working on improvements to its service.
“Our awesome customers talk to us and shared that they use BitPesa for all of their digital financial needs,” the startup said.
“Bringing home salaries they earn from global clients, paying for goods they import and export, and sending out mobile payments to all of the people and business partners in their lives.”
New user experience features on BitPesa include the ability for users to add, edit and search for their contacts on their Pay page, calculate payments using seven different reference currencies, and get the status on all payments using a simple new dashboard.
