SA crypto payments startup MoneyBadger raises $400K in Pre-seed funding round
MoneyBadger, a South African provider of bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment solutions, has raised a US $400,000 pre-seed round of funding to help it build more use cases for bitcoin in more nations and broaden its network of partners.
MoneyBadger, which was established in Stellenbosch by Carel van Wyk, Carl Kritzinger, Ben Blaine, and Brent Petersen, facilitates safe and simple bitcoin payments both online and in-store.
The startup’s universal translator app connects legacy point-of-sale (POS) systems and Bitcoin payments using a QR code scanner, and its merchant API facilitates Lightning Network transactions in addition to all major wallet providers and crypto tokens they support.
MoneyBadger’s first significant customer was the well-known South African retailer Pick n Pay, which introduced cryptocurrency and bitcoin payments in February 2023. Since then, the company has implemented these payment methods at more than 1,600 locations throughout South Africa, including all Pick n Pay supermarkets, hypermarkets, apparel stores, and express shops.
The company has obtained US$400,000 in pre-seed funding in a round led by P1 Ventures and including three angel investors in the bitcoin and crypto space. It now intends to broaden its network of partners in order to assist more people in making payments using bitcoin in more situations.
“MoneyBadger was formed when Pick n Pay wanted to add bitcoin payments to its point-of-sale systems. Thanks to advances in bitcoin payments technology, specifically the Bitcoin Lightning network, we were able to deliver a working prototype that performed phenomenally well – super-reliable and faster and cheaper than ‘tap-to-pay’ using a credit card,” said van Wyk.
“Today, consumers can use bitcoin and other crypto assets to pay for groceries and a wide selection of value-added services, from airtime and electricity to bills and travel tickets. Since launching, transaction volumes have grown to over US $83,000 monthly, serving thousands of crypto spenders nationwide. Bitcoin has grown 128 per cent since 2022, from US $40,000-odd to around US $108,000 in June. We don’t see this growth slowing, which makes the bitcoin adopter market an attractive one for retailers and merchants.”
By forming alliances with well-known merchant payment providers, MoneyBadger is currently growing its merchant network. It targets online e-commerce payment gateways, QR-based payment networks, and payment providers for big, Tier 1 retailers.
“This funding round, partly funded in bitcoin, helps us to accelerate these partnerships, and expand our well-established service to more consumers, more merchants, more use-cases and more countries. We envision a future where you can buy anything and everything with Bitcoin,” Van Wyk said.
According to Hisham Halbouny, managing partner at P1 Ventures, MoneyBadger is making bitcoin spendable at scale while the West debates crypto regulation.
“We are backing this incredible team because they’ve lived the problem, built in the trenches, and are now scaling a solution that reimagines everyday payments in Africa. Carel and Carl are building infrastructure with deep technical and domain expertise. We believe the future of crypto utility will be written here in Africa,” he said.
