Bitnet Technologies is the latest company in the cryptocurrency/bitcoin sector to close a significant round of funding, according to a Monday morning announcement.
The company, which focuses on allowing enterprise-scale merchant to accept bitcoin payments, has raised a whopping $14.5 million in Series A funding led by Highland Capital Partners.
Rakuten, the largest e-commerce service in Japan (whose U.S. division recently began accepting bitcoin), also took park in the round, today’s announcement says.
Other participants include: Webb Investment Network, Bitcoin Opportunity Corp., Stephens Investment Management, Commerce Ventures, Buchanan Capital Management, and former VISA CEO Carl Pascarella.
The funding comes at a crucial time for the company, in which they are trying to launch their product to the masses while also building out marketing, sales, and customer support teams.
The company was founded in January of this year by John McDonnell and Stephen Mc Namara, who are said to have been interested in the promise of the bitcoin technology. In total, the company is made up of 27 payment industry veterans, and Bitnet now has offices in San Francisco, California and Belfast, Ireland.
“John, Stephen, and the team they have assembled are the epitome of what we mean when we talk about partnering with innovative entrepreneurs who have the ambition to build disruptive, market-leading companies,” says Peter Bell of Highland Capital Partners. “Bitnet is breaking down the barriers of digital currency transactions and has the potential to transform the way we exchange goods and services around the world.”
The newly-formed company prides itself on having a team that really understands what goes on in the payment industry, mostly because they’ve been in the d=industry. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t listening to their target clients.
“We are listening to the world’s largest merchants,” Bitnet chief executive officer John McDonnell says. “Many of these bigger companies have looked at existing solutions and have remained on the sidelines — until now. With Bitnet, we’re building the integrations, systems and technologies that multi-national retailers and travel companies need in order to accept bitcoin. Being scalable and integrating with existing payment systems and commerce platforms are what’s important to them. Uptime is critical, as are integrated reporting and reconciliation capabilities. Bitnet removes the risk of accepting bitcoin, allowing merchants to take payments with zero liability — no fraud, no chargebacks, and no false declines. Bitcoin is digital cash, and it’s the first payment system specifically developed for the Internet. Merchants appreciate that, and they’re understandably very excited.”
Bitnet plans to charge clients under one percent in transaction fees.
