SA's Centbee raises R17m pre-Series A funding from Ayre Ventures

Centbee co-CEO's Lorien Gamaroff and Angus Brown | image supplied

Speaking on the new raise, Ayre said, “My faith in Centbee has been rewarded through Angus and Lorien’s ongoing commitment to making Bitcoin – the original protocol in the form of BSV – easily usable and accessible to everyone. Unlike other blockchains, BSV is focused on utility, not speculation, and Centbee is working hard to further Bitcoin’s adoption as a true peer-to-peer electronic cash system.”

Centbee Co-CEO, Lorien Gamaroff, added, “We have the right vision, products and team to drive exponential growth for our investors. Consumers around the world are looking for better, easier ways to pay, and our blockchain-based payment wallet does just that. Our latest feature, ChatPay, makes it easy to send money via an in-wallet chat application.”

Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with offices in South Africa, Centbee was founded by co-CEOs, Gamaroff and Angus Brown. Gamaroff is a leading expert in blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies.

He has consulted and advised regulators and corporates internationally and is highly regarded globally as an educator and presenter.

Brown has 20 years of experience in payments and banking including the role of CEO of eBucks.com, a world-first bank-backed digital currency created in 2000. Brown was appointed Chairman of the BSV blockchain’s Technical Standards Committee earlier this year.

Centbee has a suite of digital cash products and services that make payments easy, even cross-border,” says Angus Brown, Co-CEO. “Our cross-border remittance service, Minit Money, enables people to move money simply and cheaply across borders to support family and friends and has already processed over 35,000 remittances into Africa. The investment by Ayre Group will be used for scaling and growth as well as strengthening technical and operating capacity.”