Crypto Startup Bitrefill Bags $2 Million Funding

California-based crypto startup Bitrefill on June 14, 2019, announced that it had successfully closed a $2 million late seed round which saw participation from a number of venture investors from the crypto industry.

Bitrefill Bags $2 Million in the Latest Funding Round

Bitrefill, a startup that aims to make crypto payments a mainstream phenomenon has secured $2 million in its latest funding round.

According to Bitrefill’s Medium post, the funding round was led by the creators of the DropBit app, Coin Ninja. The round also saw participation from other noted investors in the cryptoverse including litecoin (LTC) founder Charlie Lee, Fulgur Ventures, and Bnktothefuture, among others.

Bitrefill is one of the early pioneers of bitcoin’s (BTC) second-layer off-chain scaling protocol – the Lightning Network.

Per the blog post, the startup will utilize the freshly raised capital to further develop its suite of products and services that utilize the Lightning Network. The firm will also expand into new international markets to encourage people to use cryptocurrencies to purchase goods and services, the team added.

Commenting on the successful late seed round, Sergej Kotliar, the founder and CEO of Bitrefill said:

“We see it as a big token of trust that investors from the Bitcoin and broader cryptocurrency community have chosen to put their money behind us and support us in our growth journey.”

Notably, Bitrefill is also one of the leading crypto gift card sellers in the world having a partnership with more than 1,650 businesses in 170 countries. The firm states that it witnessed a 100 percent year-to-year increase in its cryptocurrency gift card sales in Q1 2019.

Bitrefill Riding the Lightning

Founded in 2015 by Sergei Kotliar and co-founders Michael Grunberger and Michel Gustavsson, Bitrefill has quickly cemented its place among the few premier startups that are riding the mainstream crypto adoption wave.

BTCManager reported on January 10, 2019, how the Californian startup had launched its Thor Lightning Channel to hasten the process of sending and receiving bitcoin among merchants and customers via the Lightning Network.

Speaking of the Lightning Network, bitcoin’s hugely popular and successful off-chain scaling solution continues to snowball in its adoption and strength. In November last year, BTCManager reported how the Lightning Network achieved another milestone as it zoomed past 4,000 nodes.