Bitcoin exchange startup Bitso has raised $2.5m to make it easier for the underbanked in Mexico to gain access to financial services. Among the investors is Mexico -based foreign exchange, Monex Group , which last year conducted $160bn in transactions in Europe, the US and Latin America. Bitso’s co-founder and president Daniel Vogel told CoinDesk he believes the expertise of Monex and the other investors will help the startup grow from its "strong footprint" of users in Mexico to elsewhere in Latin America. Speaking from the exhibit booth his company won as part of a startup challenge hosted by Swift, Vogel said: "We are very interested in the rest of Latin America. There are some places where there’s been a significant amount of bitcoin activity in Latin America, but there are other places that are very, very quiet. I think those places are very interesting." Other investors included Mexican venture capital firms Variv Capital and Xochi Ventures, and US investors Digital Currency Group (DCG), FundersClub, Bitcoin Capital and Blockchain Tech Limited. The investment was divided into two tranche’s, the most recent of which closed last week. DCG and Funders club both participated in an earlier $1.85m seed investment . Hiring spree When the first tranche closed in May, the company employed six people, according to Vogel, a number which is about to grow to 15 following an upcoming new hire. Vogel believes that the investment will go a long way toward meeting his hiring goal, as the coders he needs in Mexico earn about $20,000 a year, compared to more than $100,000 annually in the US. Founded in 2014, the bitcoin exchange offers its customers an exchange to buy and sell bitcoin and ether with Mexican pesos, as well as a way to send remittances exchangeable in fiat currencies […]
