Binance’s fiat gateway partner Banxa raises $2M in Series A; also plans IPO in Canada

Banxa, which provides fiat gateway infrastructure to cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, has raised $2 million in Series A funding round.

The round was led by NGC Ventures, one of the ten most active investors in the crypto and blockchain space, according to a statement shared with The Block on Wednesday. Australian family office Thorney Investment Group also participated in the round.

Domenic Carosa, founder and chairman of Banxa, told The Block that the fresh capital will be utilized for building business across payment gateways, adding more currencies, local crypto licenses, and more features. He did not disclose specific details.

Expansion plans

Founded in 2014, Australia-headquartered Banxa plans to expand into new markets across Europe, Asia, and Africa, per the statement.

“We have country and currency expansion efforts in mind, as well as new features for exchanges and wallets,” Carosa told The Block.

Banxa claims to currently have 20 million users for its platform. Specifically, for crypto, it has 5 clients, including Binance, OKEx and KuCoin exchanges, said Carosa. Binance partnered with Banxa last week to enable U.K.’s Faster Payments Scheme for pound (GBP) transfers, as well as to add support for euro (EUR) and the Australian dollar (AUD).

Carosa told The Block that Banxa currently supports 12 fiat currencies on its platform and “many more” will be added “soon.” Banxa also has a “long pipeline of over 50” firms waiting to join its platform, said Carosa, who is also co-founder and CEO of Australia-listed media and marketing company Crowd Media Holdings.

There are currently 25 people working for Banxa at its offices in Australia, Netherlands and the Philippines, and that number was 15 at the beginning of 2019, said Carosa.

'Uniquely positioned'

“Banxa is uniquely positioned within the crypto economy, primed to support the ever-evolving financial preferences of a digitally-savvy generation,” said Roger Lim, founding partner of NGC Ventures. “Banxa addresses the issue of user experience and onboarding while providing the much-needed regulatory assurances for newcomers to this nascent digital asset class.”

The Series A brings Banxa’s total funding to date to $3 million, Carosa told The Block, adding:

“We are also in the process of launching a pre-IPO round as we are in the process of listing onto the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada."