A new pan-African crypto exchange, MARA, raised $23 million to launch Africa-focused crypto and blockchain products. The funding round was led by Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, Day One Ventures, TQ Ventures, Distributed Global, Nexo, Huobi Ventures and more such 100 crypto investors, as per the press release.
MARA plans to invest in a suite of products targeting Kenya and Nigeria, Africa’s two largest countries. These products include a custodial retail crypto wallet, a pro-exchange for professional traders, and a layer-one blockchain that aims to become the top-notch network for developers.
The company said that the retail app will launch in July, with the exchange coming after that. Also, the MARA chain is scheduled to go live in the fourth quarter. After introducing Africa-focused crypto and blockchain products, it further wants to expand its offerings to East Africa and Francophone countries as well said CEO Chi Nnandi.
MARA surely has to compete for market share against prominent crypto players such as Binance and Digital Currency Group’s Luno, as well as indigenous players such as Yellow Card, Buycoins, Quidax, and Busha.
Many existing exchanges offer just about every service needed to use crypto in Africa. Many of them have to find their way around stringent regulatory realities to provide crypto services on the continent.
For instance, many African countries restrict local financial institutions from doing business with crypto firms, making it challenging to build on-ramp and off-ramp solutions on local payment rails.
Yet there are some startups aligning themselves with the current circumstances around the crypto space. In February, Jumbo, a startup building a Web3 user acquisition portal, raised $7.5 million to build a Web3 super app for Africa.
