Global cryptocurrency company Luno has launched investment arm Luno Expeditions, which will back early-stage fintech and crypto entrepreneurs and plans to make between 200 and 300 investments per year.
Luno makes it safe and easy to buy, store and learn about cryptocurrencies, operates across 43 countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, the United States (US) and Europe, and has over nine million customers.
The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), has announced the launch of Luno Expeditions, a global, early-stage investment arm to support the best fintech and crypto/web3 founders on their journeys to build the next generation of financial services.
Building on DCG’s seven year track record in early-stage crypto investing, Luno Expeditions will now spearhead all of DCG’s early stage investing, at seed and pre-seed stages. Whilst in stealth mode over the past few months, it has already invested in over 20 leading crypto and fintech companies globally, including a crypto compliance solution in Israel, an NFT marketplace in the US, a bank dedicated to women in Pakistan, and a remittance solution in Tanzania.
Next, the team will scale up investments, targeting 200-300 per year, and expand the focus beyond crypto into the broader fintech space.
“These are incredibly exciting times in cryptocurrency and the broader fintech ecosystem. We’ve got ambitious plans to build a leading fund designed around the needs of early stage founders. It will be a privilege to work with ambitious entrepreneurs from all over the world, all intent on solving problems and building the next generation of financial service companies,” said Jocelyn Cheng, who is taking on the role of CEO at Luno Expeditions.
“We know how hard it is to build a company, especially in the fintech space, and with our deep experience building, scaling and operating fintech businesses in some of the hardest markets in the world, we’re looking to support a new generation of entrepreneurs from all over the world do the same,” said Marcus Swanepoel, Luno co-founder and CEO.
