Luno to open new headquarters in Joburg, hire over 30 staff for office

SA bitcoin exchange Luno announced today that it will be opening a Johannesburg office. The office will serve as Luno’s regional headquarters for Africa.

The news follows hot on the heels of a report by Ventureburn last month that the London-headquartered company with teams based in several cities across the world — had embarked on hiring 40 new employees for its Cape Town office (see here),

In a statement today, Luno said in addition to building out the Africa coverage team, the Johannesburg office will also be home to a brand new engineering team. Luno is currently seeking to recruit over 30 staff for the new office, with additional roles expected as the business expands into more African countries.

Luno said its Johannesburg office will also be home to a new engineering team and that it is currently recruiting for over 30 employees for the office

Luno now has a team of over 250 employees spread across three main hubs: London, Singapore and Cape Town, and regional offices in Lagos, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. The business currently services over two million customers spanning 40 countries worldwide, sustaining its buoyant growth.

The company’s co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel (pictured above) said up till now the company’s presence has been largely limited to Nigeria and South Africa. “We’ve been closely monitoring the rest of the African market and believe that the time is now finally right for a dynamic expansion across other African markets.”

He said the company will be investing a “significant” amount of capital and resources into its African expansion over the coming years.

“We look forward to working closely with governments, regulators and financial institutions to help create an environment that fosters innovation and job creation that will contribute to broad scale growth, drive economic opportunities and ultimately, real value for consumers,” he added.

Co-founded by Swanepoel and CTO Timothy Stranex, Luno has raised over $13-million in funding since launch in 2013 and is backed by global tech giant, the Naspers Group, who led their Series A round, and Balderton Capital who led their Series B round, among others.

Last month Swanepoel said the startup is likely to hire another 50 to 100 people in South Africa over the next nine to 12 months.

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Featured image: Luno co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel (via Facebook)