BitAngels, the first international incubator focused exclusively on bitcoin start-ups, announced that it has invested $7m (roughly 8,200 BTC) in twelve different bitcoin startups since 2013.
The startups feature some interesting names, including mining hardware company CoinTerra, bitcoin instant exchange Cash Into Coins, bitcoin layer MSC Protocol, payment platform GoCoin and Seasteading incubator Blueseed. The company said:
“BitAngels have nearly $50m in bitcoins soft-circled by its now 324 angels across the globe ready to be invested in bitcoin startups.”
The BitAngels assembled at the Bitcoin 2013 Conference in San Jose last year. The core team included 50 US members, but it quickly expanded and there are now over 300 “angels” in 23 countries. BitAngels has city leaders spread out across the globe, from Chicago to Tokyo, Shanghai to Tel Aviv.
“It has been an incredible time for bitcoin since the May 2013 bitcoins show in San Jose, and it has been an even more incredible one for BitAngels,” said co-founder and executive director David A Johnston:
“Like the digital currency itself, BitAngels had small beginnings, but […] we expect that we’ll head straight to the moon, which might be the one place where BitAngels doesn’t have a presence right now.”
The BitAngels incubator was co-founded by David A Johnston, Michael Terpin and Sam Onat Yilmaz. It has attracted quite a few big names since launch, including; Memory Dealers CEO and bitcoin evangelist, Roger Ver; Gyft CEO Vinny Lingham; Robocoin Asia chairman Brock Pierce; and Tradehill CEO Jered Kenna.
“We’re continuing to aggressively pursue both new angels and new investment opportunities, wherever they might be,” said Terpin. “Bitcoin continues to be a space that is growing constantly, with new ways in which it is touching our day-to-day lives, and BitAngels is going to be an integral part of that continuing development.”
Of course, BitAngels want to expand even further and they are calling on interested investors and entrepreneurs to get in touch.
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