Montreal-based bitcoin technology company Shakepay has received a C$44 million Series A investment, at a total company valuation of C$313 million. The company allows customers to easily buy and earn bitcoin through its financial applications.
The raise is led by QED Investors, a U.S. venture capital firm that invests in financial technology businesses, successfully funding over 150 fintech companies.
As part of the capital raise, Matt Burton, partner at QED Investors, will become a member of Shakepay’s board of directors, joining Shakepay’s founders, chief executive officer Jean Aminouny, and chief technology officer Roy Breidi. With continued participation from Boost VC and BoxOne Ventures, the Series A round also includes participation from Golden Ventures, Broadhaven, Henri Machalani, Mike Murchison, Jevon MacDonald, Mark MacLeod, Dan Debow, Farhan Thawar, and several product leaders from Shopify.
In 2021, Shakepay saw a 275 per cent employee growth, going from 20 employees to 75. It has also seen customer growth in all provinces, increasing from 187,000 customers to 913,000 in 2021.
It plans to put the new funding towards building the company through the launch of new product offerings to help customers gain access to the digital economy.
In December 2021, Shakepay launched the Shakepay Visa Prepaid Card to a list of 180,000 early access customers across Canada. It’s a prepaid card that offers bitcoin rewards when spending a Canadian dollar balance with Visa-accepting merchants.
All bitcoin cashback rewards are settled to a cardholder’s Shakepay bitcoin balance and will be separate from their Shakepay Card Canadian dollar balance. Customers can put more money on their card by sending an Interac e-Transfer to their Shakepay account.