Leading Nordic Bitcoin broker Prasos has raised €2.5m in equity funding to boost its expansion in Europe, and to develop cryptocurrency-based investment services for traditional investors.
The Helsinki-based company launched the equity offering on November 9th, 2017, via Invesdor. They reached the first million at the beginning of December, and the last million of the €2.5m euro cap was invested during only 6 days at the end of the month.
“We have a very positive view of the future of our sector and expected the round to be successful, but the reception that we received in the market exceeded all our expectations,” said Henry Bade, CEO of Prasos.
The company aims to making Bitcoin investment more user-friendly – a quality that Bade feels is currently lacking.
“The general interest towards cryptocurrencies has increased significantly, but the current services are not very user-friendly,” Brade added. “We have invested heavily in the security of our services and we want to make the investment procedure as easy as possible for regular investors entering the market.”
“The sector is quite complex – especially for non-tech-savvy investors – and therefore the development of a traditional investment product that combines the cryptocurrency market and our knowledge about the different technologies is very interesting and has clear demand.”
Joel Kaartinen, co-founder of Prasos, believes that the success of Prasos’s equity offering demonstrates growing trust in the sector, and an opportunity to continue their rapid expansion.
“Investors trust the sector and find us to be a solid and trustworthy operator in the sector. Especially since the sector is growing very rapidly,” Kaartinen told PaymentEye.
“Our whole team is currently working overtime so we can provide service for the massive influx of new customers that are wanting to use our services and this will allow us to continue the rapid expansion.”
Prasos’s future is ambitious, with plans to develop a Cryptocurrency Investment Fund, as well as eyeing up a spot on the Nasdaq First North marketplace.
“In the short term, we’re adding new cryptocurrencies to our service, including Litecoin and Ethereum, and will start marketing our services to markets that we have less presence in,” Kaartinen continued. “We’re also planning to unveil new investment products for investors. Later this year we hope to reveal more detailed information about our plans.”
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