Two Nigerians secures $4.2m funding to scale its crypto exchange across Africa

Busha, a Nigeria-based digital platform that helps people buy, sell and store cryptocurrency, has raised seed funding of $4.2 million in a round led by Jump Capital. 

Cadenza Ventures, Blockwall Capital, CMT Digital, Greenhouse Capital, Raba Capital, and other investors also participated in the financing round.

According to the company, the new funding will go towards deepening its market positioning in Nigeria, the leading crypto economy in Africa where all of its users are based.

Founded in 2018 by CEO Michael Adeyeri and Chief Product Officer (CPO) Moyo Sodipo, the cryptocurrency exchange claims to have more than 200,000 users and holds an ambition to “onboard the next set of one million Africans” into the crypto economy.

“We have seen the real difference in financial freedom crypto can make in the lives of our users, and we’re very motivated to extend this to more people on the continent,” Adeyeri said in a statement.

Busha is currently working on an expansion into other countries across West Africa and will roll out when its 30-person team is comfortable they can both protect the users there and support any compliance efforts by the authorities, Sodipo told TechCabal via email.

“The full West African corridor has our immediate attention, and we’re also excited about East Africa, particularly Kenya and Uganda. We’re currently prospecting those regions for opportunities to expand safely,” he said.

The startup recently launched a revamped version of its app that allows users to buy crypto for less than $1 (₦550) while offering features such as one-click limit orders and automated recurring buys. 

It intends to launch a savings feature that would allow users to earn interest on their crypto next month and early next year, another for users to spend cryptocurrencies at select online and offline retail outlets. The latter is being developed in partnership with SureGifts, a gift card company.

As crypto adoption in Africa continues to accelerate, the inclusive offering from Busha is in line with the company’s stated mission to make crypto accessible to a broader population and reduce entry barriers. 

“We pride ourselves on being first in the market to introduce tangible innovations like instant payouts and 24/7 human customer service,” Sodipo said. “This funding will empower us to do more faster, improve our security, and take a definitive leadership position in our target markets.”

Busha’s offering is sure to appeal to young Nigerians who are increasingly trading crypto in a bid to have better financial mobility and wealth creation opportunities amid harsh economic realities. 

For context, there are more than a million registered accounts from Nigeria on Paxful, an international peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace. That accounts for more than 25% of the platform’s customer base, with Nigeria only second to the US by volume of bitcoin traded.

“Nigeria and the African continent are one of the most promising places for crypto to make a significant impact in offering financial freedom to millions of individuals,” Peter Johnson, Partner at Jump Capital said on the rationale behind the investment in Busha.

With more Africans getting into the crypto world, Busha plans to leverage resources from its new investors to offer “market-beating prices and return more value to its customers while remaining proactive with compliance and regulation,” the company said.