Alan Howard and NYDIG back Bottlepay’s micro-payments service in a $15.5 million seed round

The Bottlepay attracted £11 million (~$15.5 million) in a seed round. Participants included billionaire Alan Howard, partners at the Goldman Sachs investment bank, venture firm FinTech Collective, and crypto platform NYDIG.

The funding will be used to expand the team, develop the service’s functionality, and enter new markets.

“The £11 million raise and a £51 million valuation speak to the scale of Bottlepay’s ambitions, capable of revolutionising payment solutions,” — said Mark Webster, Bottlepay’s chief executive.

The relaunched Bottlepay app, on February 10, enables international micro-transfers, tips and donations in bitcoins and fiat currencies in real time at the cost of a few pennies.

The functionality also enables “social payments” via messages on Twitter, Reddit, Discord. The app is built using a scaling solution for the Lightning Network.

Lightning Network: fast and cheap Bitcoin transactions

Bottlepay users can buy, hold, send and withdraw bitcoins with a single tap. Other digital payment platforms such as PayPal and Revolut do not currently allow using Bitcoin in payments.

“There are 65 million people in the world who own Bitcoin, but only a small portion actually makes daily transactions. We are at the beginning. A convenient and intuitive Bottlepay interface will open social networks, streaming, and micropayments for cryptocurrencies,” — said Shon Lipppel, head of the digital assets at FinTech Collective

Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that bitcoin is not efficient for transactions.

In July 2020, Bottlepay developers promised to release a beta version of an improved app. In late 2019 they announced its closure following the entry into force of the European Union’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

Subscribe to ForkLog news on Twitter!