Mercado Bitcoin valued at $2.1B after closing largest Series B round in LatAm history

2TM Group, the parent company of Sao Paulo-based Mercado Bitcoin, closed this week a $200 million Series B round, marking the largest of its kind in the continent’s history. The deal values the Latin American cryptocurrency exchange at $2.1 billion, making it the eighth-most valuable unicorn company in all of Latin America.

Funds to be invested in infrastructure and extension of product range  

Mercado Bitcoin will use the proceeds from the capital raise to expand offerings, scale-up, and build infrastructure to respond to escalating demand for crypto in the region. In 2021, the company’s clients reached 2.8 million. Around 700,000 new users signed up between January and May 2021. Trade volume rose to $5 billion during the first five months of 2021, which is more than in its first seven years in total.

Of note, Japan’s SoftBank took part of the financing round and represents SoftBank’s largest crypto investment in the region.

CEO and Chairman of 2TM Group Roberto Dagnoni said:

Millions of people around the world are realizing that digital assets and cryptocurrencies are both innovative technologies and efficient stores of value – Brazil is no exception to that trend. This series B round will afford us to continue investing in our infrastructure, enabling us to scale up and meet the soaring demand for the blockchain-based financial market. I am thrilled to have the SoftBank Latin America Fund support to help us to realize our vision.

Mercado Bitcoin’s Co-Founder Gustavo Chamati added:

“As we’ve developed a scalable market infrastructure, we have become the most trusted crypto brand in Brazil. This unique positioning has allowed us to capitalize on the surging interest in cryptocurrencies in both Brazil and Latin America more broadly… paving the way for continued growth.”

Another milestone for 2TM Group

2TM Group made history as the first company in the world to tokenize public debt assets two years ago. Last year, they issued the world’s first digital asset based on FIFA’s solidarity instrument. Since then, they have distributed or tokenized carbon credits, private debt, and various DeFi and utility tokens. The most recent financing round occurs five months after the Series A, which was co-led by Parallax Ventures and G2D/GP Investments. Organizations like Gear Ventures and J.P. Morgan served as 2TM’s transaction advisors.   

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