Bitcoin Company Raises $4 Million After Helping El Salvador
By connecting banks, businesses, individuals, and recently El Salvador to the Lightning Network, IBEX Mercado plans to expand with their recent $4 million seed funding. IBEX was founded in 2018 by Jose Luis Lemus with the aim to unlock low-cost, instantaneous, and cross-border payments through Lightning.
Bitcoin-focused Venture Capital firm Stillmark provided IBEX with recent funding to help the company expand into more markets within the Americas and Europe. Other companies supporting IBEX include: Central American LUM Ventures, Hivemind Ventures, Fulgar Ventures, and Ten31.
Lemus states that Bitcoin is still widely misunderstood by a majority of the world. He goes on to explain that Bitcoin is a store of value that provides a faster and cheaper way for transaction settlements. Lemus also mentions that Bitcoin is more importantly a platform that provides the most transformative shift of financial power in human history. IBEX and Lemus are motivated to continue building and connecting with people around the world, particularly the underbanked, in order to help them be more competitive in the global economy.
“This in turn unleashes a huge new opportunity for businesses and financial service providers. By unlocking this immensely long-tail of previously neglected people, they gain instant access to a huge range of customers and new revenue streams. This investment is testament to the unprecedented economic opportunities that Lightning is about to bring to the world,” says Lemus.
Managing Partner at Stillmark Alyse Killeen explains that IBEX’s vision resonated with her and Stillmark. She goes on to say that with a world class team offering a technology that will shape the trajectory of humanity while helping emerging markets, IBEX is leading the industry.
A good portion of the funds will be invested in product development and marketing resources in order to acquire more customers. Part of IBEX’s mission is to onboard four billion unbanked people around the world and the latest investment from Stillmark brings the company a step closer to that goal.