CPE News (1.20.2022) – Shakepay has raised US $35.5 million or CDN $44 million in Series A round of financing, at a CDN $313 million valuation, led by QED Investors with participation of Boost VC, BoxOne Ventures, Golden Ventures, Broadhaven, Henri Machalani, Mike Murchison, Jevon MacDonald, Mark MacLeod, Dan Debow, Farhan Thawar, and several product leaders from Shopify.
Matt Burton, Partner at QED Investors, will join Shakepay’s founders, Jean Aminouny, CEO and Roy Breidi, CTO on Shakepay’s board of directors.
Montreal based Shakepay makes it easy for Canadians to buy and earn the soundest money to ever exist: bitcoin.
photo credit: Shakepay
News Release
Canada’s Leading Bitcoin Platform, Shakepay, Closes $44M CAD (842BTC) in Series A
Led by QED Investors, funding will be used to ramp up hiring and scale the business
January 20, 2022 06:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
MONTREAL–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Shakepay, a leading Canadian bitcoin technology company enabling customers to easily buy and earn bitcoin through financial applications, today announces a $44M CAD (842BTC*) Series A investment, at a $313M CAD valuation (5986BTC*). The raise is led by QED Investors, a US-based venture capital firm that invests in businesses that disrupt and empower the financial technology industry, funding over 150 successful fintech companies.
The funding will be used to scale Shakepay’s business and launch new products that make it easier for Canadians to gain access and exposure to the digital economy. As part of the capital raise, Matt Burton, Partner at QED Investors, will join Shakepay’s board of directors, alongside Shakepay’s founders, Jean Aminouny, CEO and Roy Breidi, CTO. With continued participation from Boost VC and BoxOne Ventures, the Series A round also included participation from Golden Ventures, Broadhaven, Henri Machalani, Mike Murchison, Jevon MacDonald, Mark MacLeod, Dan Debow, Farhan Thawar, and several product leaders from Shopify.
“I am extremely excited to partner with Shakepay for the next stage of growth,” said Matt Burton, Partner at QED Investors. “Shakepay has been able to build a very passionate community and find product market fit on multiple product lines, which is rare in today’s competitive environment.”
“We launched Shakepay to change the way Canadians access and engage with bitcoin,” said Jean Amiouny, Co-Founder and CEO of Shakepay. “As an ex-operator, Matt brings a wealth of relevant experience in the fintech industry, and we are looking forward to working with him to continue driving Shakepay’s goals forward.”
The new funding comes on the back of a surge in growth in 2021, with the company surpassing $6 billion in total volume, growing 381 per cent in 2021 to more than 900,000 customers, and scaling its team from 20 employees to 75 employees across Canada. Prior to this new funding, Shakepay had raised roughly $1M CAD to date.
“Shakepay is on a mission to make it easy for Canadians to build wealth with the most powerful financial technology ever created, bitcoin,” said Jean Amiouny. “With our Series A funding, Shakepay is excited to welcome QED Investors, who have deep experience in the financial technology industry, and who will support the continued growth of Shakepay’s vision to be a leader in financial applications that help Canadians achieve financial wealth through investing in bitcoin.”
With the money raised, Shakepay is focused on bringing additional products to market that help its customers earn, access, and build wealth in bitcoin, like the Shakepay Visa* Prepaid Card, which was launched in December 2021 to a list of 180,000 early access customers across the country. The Shakepay Card is a prepaid card in Canada that offers bitcoin rewards when spending a Canadian dollar balance with Visa-accepting merchants. All bitcoin cashback rewards are settled to a cardholder’s Shakepay bitcoin balance and will be separate from their Shakepay Card Canadian dollar balance. Customers can top up their card by sending an Interac e-Transfer to their Shakepay account.
*The price of bitcoin as of Thursday, January 19, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. EST.
About Shakepay
Shakepay is a Montreal-based technology company that makes it easy for Canadians to buy and earn the soundest money to ever exist: bitcoin. By accelerating its widespread adoption, their mission is to help usher in a Bitcoin Golden Age.
To learn more about Shakepay visit: https://shakepay.com/
About QED Investors
QED Investors is a global leading boutique venture capital firm based in Alexandria, Va. Founded by Nigel Morris and Frank Rotman in 2007. QED Investors is focused on investing in early stage, disruptive financial services companies in the U.S., U.K., Latin America and Southeast Asia. QED Investors is dedicated to building great businesses and uses a unique, hands-on approach that leverages our partners’ decades of entrepreneurial and operational experience, helping their companies achieve breakthrough growth. Notable investments include Credit Karma, ClearScore, Nubank, SoFi, Avant, Remitly, GreenSky, Klarna, QuintoAndar, Loft, Konfio, Creditas, AvidXchange, Current and Mission Lane.
*Trademark of Visa International Service Association and used under licence by Peoples Trust Company. Shakepay Visa prepaid card is issued by Peoples Trust Company pursuant to licence by Visa Int.
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