Digital Currency Group Helps Fund Latest Coinme $10M Round

Coinme, the largest licensed cryptocurrency cash network in the US, raised $10 million in a strategic funding round and plans on expanding internationally by the end of the year, Neil Bergquist, co-founder and CEO of Coinme, said in an interview with Blockworks. 

The funds were raised by existing investors, including capital market company, Digital Currency Group, and will be used for product and market expansion. 

The company has raised a cumulative $30 million in funding since inception and Bergquist said they might consider future funding rounds later this year. 

The company has not announced a valuation to the public and has no plans for an initial public offering at this time, he added.  

Coinme was founded in 2014, but between 2017 to 2020, it experienced a 2,200% growth in revenue due to consumer demand for bitcoin and economic uncertainty by the pandemic, the company said. 

Coinme offers an enterprise application programming interface (API) that crypto-enables financial institutions to provide the secure sale of bitcoin with cash to everyday people. The company offers the world’s largest bitcoin point of sale network and has more than 15,000 locations across the US through partnerships with MoneyGram and Coinstar. 

Although the bitcoin spot market is volatile, the majority of Coinme customers aren’t speculating about the price, but using its product as a medium exchange to buy it at store value, as a payment for goods and services or to send to friends and family, Bergquist said. 

Bergquist also shared an announcement with Blockworks, the company is expanding internationally later this year, specifically in Latin America.

This announcement to dive into Latin American markets comes at a crucial time for cryptocurrency, as El Salvador recently became the first country in the world to formally adopt bitcoin as legal tender. 

In addition, other Latin American countries’ politicians have shared similar support for the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender, further driving positive market sentiment. Politicians from nations including Brazil, Paraguay, Panama, Argentina and Mexico have expressed interest and support for the cryptocurrency.

In addition, the company is working on adding multi-coin support, offering more digital currencies than bitcoin and adding additional payment types to buy and sell digital currency on their products, Bergquist said. 

“People want different payment types, they want to buy with their bank account and there’s expressed demand for access to different digital currencies other than bitcoin. So, those are two key items we’re focused on developing right now,” Bergquist said.