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Everyone’s piling into crypto right now. Take a look at the pitch deck that convinced SoftBank to lead a $200 million round into Brazil’s largest exchange.
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- Brazilian company 2TM has raised $200 million for its subsidiary, Mercado Bitcoin.
- The raise was led by tech investment giant SoftBank at a $2.1 billion valuation.
- Mercado Bitcoin’s funding is the largest ever Series B round in Brazil.
One of Latin America’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges has raised $200 million in a round led by Japanese investing giant SoftBank.
Brazil-based Mercado Bitcoin raised the funds at a $2.1 billion valuation in what was the country’s largest Series B to date. The company is the region’s biggest crypto exchange by volume and processed transactions worth $4 billion in the opening five months of 2021 as demand for digital assets soared.
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Mercado is part of 2TM, a wider alternative assets group that also comprises various other businesses such as digital wallet company Meubank and asset management platform Parmais. The company allows users to trade digital currencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin.
“2020 was a record breaking year, until 2021 came and in the first five months our trading volume was eleven times more compared to the same period of last year,” Roberto Dagnoni, CEO of 2TM told Insider.
“In Brazil, and generally speaking in Latin America, millions of people are realizing that digital assets and cryptocurrencies are both innovative emerging technologies and are efficient in storing value.”
“Additionally, we’ve seen some of the lowest interest rates on record in Brazil, which fueled the development of the alternative assets industry,” he added. “Crypto is benefiting from this trend, which can also be seen in other asset classes, such as VC and private equity.”
Mercado Bitcoin has around 2.8 million users with 700,000 joining in 2021 alone. The company’s numbers have been growing with more volumes processed in 2021 than in the entirety of the rest of its seven year existence.
The backing comes despite SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son being non-committal about cryptocurrencies recently. “There’s a lot of discussion over if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, what’s the true value or is it in a bubble — honestly speaking, I don’t know,” he said at a news conference in May.
When asked about how the company convinced the Japanese tech giant to invest Dagnoni said: “We certainly can’t talk on behalf of Masayoshi Son, apart from admiring his vision and what he has built through SoftBank, which has been following our path for a while.”
Funding will go towards continued fast growth and investment in products. Mercado Bitcoin will also grow its team to around 700 staff by the end of the year as well.
Mercado Bitcoin
Mercado Bitcoin
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Mercado Bitcoin
Mercado Bitcoin
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Mercado Bitcoin
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