Japan bitcoin exchange raises $4m

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, corporate VC Dentsu Digital Holdings, Quick Corp., Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, and Venture Labo Investment took part in the round. 

BitFlyer operates as a web-based bitcoin exchange and marketplace that is designed to make its easier for users to buy, sell, and spend bitcoins online. The company previously raised $1.1 million in January from Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of Secondary Market. Prior to that it raised $1.8 million across two seed rounds in 2014. 

The start-up's most recently launched services include: bitFlyer Lightning, a bitcoin exchange designed for professionals; chainFlyer, a website that provides a visualization of the bitcoin storage network; a bitFlyer Android application; and adFlyer, an advertisement service built on bitcoin.

The company will use the latest funding round to strengthen its security environment and build its management team, it said in a statement. In addition, bitFlyer says it will take advantage of synergies available with each investor and look to expand its customer base, grow its revenues, and expand its global footprint.

There have been several bitcoin-related VC investments in Asia over the past two years. The most recent was in May when IDG Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs invested $50 million in US-based bitcoin start-up Circle. Before that, in August last year, Korean bitcoin exchange and merchant processor Korbit raised $3 million in a Series A round led by SoftBank Ventures Korea and Pantera Capital.

 

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• Topics
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• North Asia
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• Japan