I am happy to announce that Vancouver-based white label Bitcoin exchange Bex.io closed a $500,000 seed round. I led this round on behalf of CrossPacific Capital Partners (www.xpcp.ca)
I have known the 2 founders of Bex.io, Jesse Heaslip and Yurii Rashkovskii since June this year when I first started looking at Bitcoin-related investments for XPCP. I am impressed by the progress that they made over the past couple of months, and the company is now ready to roll out its first Software as a Service (Saas) white-label virtual currency exchange.
I joined Bex.io’s board of directors and will be actively involved in helping the company grow into one of the leading Bitcoin companies in the world. A great way to end my first year as a venture capitalist in Vancouver!
Below the text of the press release that just went out.
Vancouver, Canada, December 21, 2013 –(PR.com)– Bex.io, a digital currency exchange network builder, has raised $500K in seed funding. Led by CrossPacific Capital Partners (www.xpcp.ca), with participation from Brian Cartmell, Ryan Holmes (HootSuite) and several angel investors, the funds will further strengthen the Bex.io team and support the initial rollout of the first cohort of Bex.io trusted partners.
Bex.io enables Bitcoin entrepreneurs across the globe to spread the adoption of Bitcoin across different markets by providing compliant dealer, exchange and merchant solutions on a white label basis.
Founded in Vancouver in early 2013, Bex.io was able to collect a solid array of knowledge about today’s and future needs of the digital currencies market to ensure the right go-to-market and expansion strategies are in place. It has also developed its first product offering, a turn key dealer solution.
The company will roll out multiple deployments over the course of 2014 and will start offering several liquidity provisioning options.
The company defines mass proliferation of Bitcoin as its strategic mission and sees partnering with successful internet and finance entrepreneurs as an efficient strategy in achieving this.
Marc van der Chijs of Cross Pacific Capital Partners has been appointed to company’s Board of Directors. Additional investors participating in this round include Plug & Play Ventures, Greg Gunn (HootSuite) and Ken Miyoshi (Maple Venture Partners). The company has also appointed Vinny Lingham, CEO of Gyft as an advisor.
“CrossPacific Capital is impressed by the Bex.io team and its vision for the future of digital currencies. Bex.io will help the Bitcoin ecosystem grow and will enable many people to run their own exchanges, something which is needed in order to achieve mass adoption of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. We also see tremendous opportunities outside North America for Bex.io’s services, especially in Asia,” said Marc van der Chijs, managing partner at CrossPacific Capital, who led the investment in the company.
For more information, or to sign up, please visit http://bex.io
About Bex.io:
Bex.io’s goal is to ease access to digital currencies and digital currencies services across the globe, in multiple jurisdictions by enabling its partners to focus on regulatory, banking and marketing aspects. Bex.io was launched in early 2013 and is headquartered in Vancouver, BC (Canada).
About CrossPacific Capital Partners:
CrossPacific Capital Partners (“XPCP”) is a capital partnership that opportunistically invests in disruptive Canadian and US businesses that have a strong potential for revenue growth or profitable exit options, especially when connected to Asian markets or in partnership with Asian companies.
XPCP manages the XPCP Fund (“XPF”), which is a Venture Capital fund. XPF is a unique opportunity to invest in the growth of Asia, without the risks associated with such investments. XPF has a current portfolio of more than 10 strong Canadian technology companies that are uniquely positioned for tremendous growth in Asian markets. XPF has institutional relationships across North America that provide access to an ongoing stream of Canadian and US companies looking to expand into Asia.
XPCP and XPF are entirely funded by its Team and its Venture Partners, and do not raise money from external individual investors. XPCP has offices in Vancouver (Canada) and Santa Clara (USA).
Way to end out the year, indeed, Marc! Great news and congrats…way to hammer this through the uprights!
Well done!