Digital currency startup BitPay has raised $30 million in a Series A funding round, valuing the company at $160 million.
The new round of financing was led by Index Ventures, with participation from Horizons Ventures, Founders Fund, Felicis Ventures, RRE Ventures, TTV Capital, Sir Richard Branson, and AME Cloud Ventures. It adds to a total of $2.7 million raised by the company last year.
BitPay currently processes $1 million per day in bitcoin payments for over 30,000 merchants, 50% of whom are in the US, with 30% in Europe and 20% across the rest of the world. Customers include WordPress, TigerDirect, and Shopify, as well as Richard Branson's commercial space travel company Virgin Galactic.
Of his decision to invest in BitPay, Branson says:" Banking as we know it is in the midst of enormous change and innovation. We have jumped in by investing in alternative payment models and also by accepting bitcoin for tickets on Virgin Galactic."
In addition to BitPay's core merchant acquiring products, the company is also developing open source projects around Bitcoin to provide added value services for merchant accounts, such as accounting and tax reporting software.
The company plans to use the investment to expand globally and create around 70 jobs, primarily software developers. This will more than triple its workforce across its bases in Atlanta, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, and Amsterdam.