Crypto banking startup Bitwala secures $13M in Series A funding led by Sony, NKB Group

German crypto banking startup Bitwala has raised €13 million in a Series A round led by Sony Financial Ventures and NKB Group.

According to the press release, this marks Sony Financial Ventures first-ever investment into a crypto-first company through its partner Sony Financial and Global Brain.

Bitwala’s existing investors Earlybird and coparion contributed half of the round’s funding. Last year, the company raised €4 million from Earlybird and coparion, who joined existing investors including High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Digital Currency Group (DCG), and ALSTIN.

Christoph Iwaniez, Chief Financial Officer at Bitwala, said that the company is now entering “a new phase of expansion.” Bitwala intends to use the fresh funding to attract new customers, recruit talent, and start offering Bitcoin accounts for businesses.

The funding round follows the launch of Bitwala’s services in Germany in December 2018. Since then, the company said that bitcoin worth more than €11 million have already been traded on its platform.

“This Series A investment is also a token of trust from both existing and new investors. It is a recognition of our efforts and the high potential of Bitwala’s competitive advantage. Fueled by many recent endorsements, we are now bent on speeding up our growth,” Iwaniez said.

Bitwala, with retail customers in all 31 countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), offers crypto banking service with a built-in bitcoin wallet as well as seamless BTC trading options. Euro deposits of up to €100,000 are protected by the German deposit guarantee schemes.

“Today, we are offering a bridge for both mainstream users and blockchain buffs, who want to interact with the emerging blockchain ecosystem - the growing digital economy spreading across the globe,” Bitwala’s co-founder and Chief Technical Officer Ben Jones said. “While there is still huge upside potential, it has already been a humbling experience to see the ecosystem grow and for Bitwala to play such an important part in that.”