Dutch VC fund takes a stake in SA’s Centbee after Paper Plane Ventures exits startup

UPDATE (21 February): An earlier version of this story had it that Dutch venture capital (VC) company Two Hop Ventures had acquired SA VC Paper Plane Ventures — when in fact it had only acquired the stake that the SA VC had held in Centbee. The headline and story have been adjusted to reflect this.

Amsterdam-based venture capital fund Two Hop Ventures has announced that it has taken a stake in Johannesburg-based Bitcoin SV (BSV) wallet and merchant payment startup Centbee.

The VC fund made the announcement today in a statement that it had taken a stake in the SA startup. It did not reveal what stake it had taken in the startup or what it had paid for the stake.

The deal came about after the VC fund acquired SA VC Paper Plane Ventures‘s stake in Centbee.

Centbee was founded in 2017 by co-CEOs Lorien Gamaroff and Angus Brown. Gamaroff is a leading expert in blockchain tech and cryptocurrencies, while Brown — the former CEO of eBucks.com — has 20 years’ experience in payments and banking.

Two Hop Ventures has acquired a stake in SA’s Centbee after buying an existing investor

In April last year Centbee announced that it had raised £1 million in a Series-A round from Canadian-born billionaire entrepreneur Calvin Ayre (see this story).

Two Hop co-founder Jan Smit (pictured above, left with Centbee co-founder Angus Brown) commented in the same statement today, that: “Not only is Centbee one of the most used wallets in the BitcoinSV (BSV) ecosystem, it’s building products and services with a strong focus on regulatory compliance”.

“The senior management team come from strong professional and corporate backgrounds including software engineering, banking, payments, accounting and finance,” said Smit.

Michael Stannard of Paper Plane Ventures said: “We’re proud to have supported Centbee from its early days as a small startup to becoming a formidable player in the crypto-asset space. We look forward to watching the fintech grow.”

Brown, co-CEO of Centbee added that the deal “demonstrates” the potential for Centbee and other BitcoinSV (BSV) companies to deliver real value for both investors, industry stakeholders and consumers. “We’ve enjoyed a high user growth rate and have a clear path to revenue,” he added.

Read more: SA startup Centbee raises £1-million from Calvin Ayre in Series-A round
Read more: Revealed – SA investor Paper Plane Ventures behind these big tech names
Read more: SA startup Aerobotics secures R29m in funding from Paper Plane Ventures
Read more: Why regulating crypto assets will help grow Bitcoin adoption [Opinion]
Read more: SA bitcoin wallet provider Centbee announces funding from nChain Group
Read more: SA startup Centbee launches app to send bitcoin cash to contacts on your phone

Featured image (from left to right): Two Hop co-founder Jan Smit with Centbee co-founder Angus Brown