NEM Ventures, the venture capital and investment arm of the NEM blockchain ecosystem, has announced its first portfolio investment in Vimba, New Zealand’s largest crypto savings platform.
Following a successful launch in the UK in 2018, the fresh capital extends Vimba’s runway sufficiently to enable expansion to several more regions over the coming months, including Australia, Ireland, The Netherlands, and Germany.
Commenting on the announcement, Sam Blackmore, Founder, and CEO of Vimba said: “NEM is a quality, community-driven project, run by a passionate group of experts looking to improve the ecosystem and amplify the positive impacts of blockchain technology. This ethos speaks volumes to Vimba, and this collaboration will help us to expand into new regions and develop the platform further, providing a safe and trusted gateway to the new economy to everyday users, all over the world.”
Founded in 2014, Vimba allows customers to invest in increments of crypto as small as $10 up to $2000 NZD in a four-week period. A gateway for a large retail base to access and benefit from the crypto ecosystem, Vimba aims to provide everyday investors with the opportunity to engage with crypto assets in regular, automated intervals and in smaller increments, as part of an overall strategy to weather the bear market and encourage the long-term growth of the industry.
Dave Hodgson, Director and Co-founder of NEM Ventures said: "This investment recognises the vision and value of Vimba in providing an on-ramp to fiat for the NEM community, and we are proud to be helping such a forward-thinking project scale sustainably. Vimba’s services are the beginning of a larger vision to build a crypto-first banking model, which could offer all the services expected of a fiat bank, encompassing earning interest on savings, collateralized debt, stable coins, and loans. We look forward to seeing what the project achieves in 2019.”