Swedish bitcoin exchange Safello has secured a $600,000 investment that it hopes will push it into the wider European market. The exchange, which launched its service last August, can now count bitcoin luminaries Erik Voorhees and Roger Ver among its investors.
Safello, which also saw Blockchain.info CEO Nicolas Cary invest, is currently revamping its website, and promises a range of new services in the coming months.
The startup has worked hard to establish credibility in the fledgling bitcoin exchange market, signing deals with at least two major banks, and also negotiating with the Swedish regulator – the Financial Supervisory Authority.
The company, which set up the first bitcoin ATM in Sweden, shares the bitcoin market in that country with three other exchanges: btcx.se, Kapiton, and FYB-SE. It said in a statement, however, that it wants to focus on the broader European market “as a first step to globalisation”.
The firm did not provide details of what its new services might be, but it’s worth noting that one of the new investors is Henrik von Schoultz, founder of Mosync – a platform enabling developers to produce mobile applications for a variety of platforms.
Bitcoin angels
Other investors in this latest around include Ira Miller, the CTO of Coinapult, and Jan Rees, an expert in retail banking and card payments.
Also investing were Anders Bruzelius, the former head of equity research at Swedbank – Sweden’s largest bank in terms of customer numbers – and Victor & Victor, angel investors in casino Vera&John, which recently became the first licenced online casino to begin accepting bitcoins.
This investment round also sees a recommitment by Ludvig Öberg, an early angel investor in Safello, who, like Roger Ver, is listed as an advisor on the firm’s site.
Aside from the amount invested, this investment round is also notable for the number of investors involved. The firm lists 15 in its statement announcing the deal, which would mean an average of $40,000 each (although the investment is likely to be unevenly spread).
The large number of contributors may be down to the way in which Safello engineered the round via DealCircle, a Danish startup that offers to make it easier for angel investors and startup founders to make deals.
Finding investors in this way offers the advantage of reducing the legal fees involved in organising angel investments, and DealCircle itself secured $750,000 in funding just last week.