Medici Ventures made a US$3m follow-on investment in Bitt, a blockchain-based digital payment provider based in Barbados, following a US$4m investment in 2016.
(Press Release) Medici Ventures, announces the exercise of an option to purchase additional ownership interest in Bitt.com, the Caribbean’s blockchain-based digital payment provider. Medici Ventures will increase its ownership stake in Bitt’s total Class A and B common shares by 8.6% in exchange for $3M in additional funding.
Bitt is a Barbados-based financial technology company founded in 2015 that uses blockchain and distributed ledger technology to build a secure, streamlined, peer-to-peer payment ecosystem in the surrounding region. Medici Ventures first invested $4M in Bitt in early 2016, shortly after Bitt’s launch of a digitized Barbadian Dollar on the bitcoin blockchain.
“Bitt has created a blockchain-based payments ecosystem that is useful for every day transactions,” said Medici Ventures President Jonathan Johnson. “It has positioned itself as a clear leader in applying blockchain technology to solve real-world problems. Under the leadership of CEO Rawdon Adams, Bitt has taken a good idea and grown it into a viable product able to make the financial lives of Caribbean residents easier. We’re pleased to take a larger stake in this forward-thinking company, as it aligns with Medici Ventures’ goals of re-democratizing capital.”
This increased investment follows Bitt’s recent announcement of a signed memorandum of understanding with Montserrat to launch a digital payments platform for the Caribbean nation and its launch of a digital wallet in Barbados.
“This reaffirmation of the company’s promise by Medici Ventures is a tremendous reflection on the dedication, motivation and execution skills of my colleagues,” said Bitt CEO Rawdon Adams. “Bitt is in a unique position to provide the solutions to boost both financial inclusion and overall economic performance through its blockchain-based software. That’s already being recognized by regional governments overseeing economies characterized by large informal sectors, persistently high rates of poverty and expensive traditional financial services. I thank Medici Ventures for their support of our mission.”
Medici Ventures will receive 22,012,070 Class A shares and 22,012,070 Class B shares for its investment. Johnson and Dr. Ali El Husseini, President of Medici Ventures’ investment company DeSoto Inc., are members of Bitt’s board of directors.
About Medici Ventures:
Launched in 2014, Medici Ventures is a wholly owned subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc., created to leverage blockchain technology to solve real-world problems with transparent, efficient and secure solutions. Medici Ventures has a growing portfolio of groundbreaking blockchain-focused investments, including tZERO, Peernova, Bitt, SettleMint, Factom, and IdentityMind, Spera and Symbiont. The company’s majority-owned financial technology company, tZERO, executed the world’s first blockchain-based stock offering in December 2016.
About Bitt.com:
The Bitt group of companies has positioned itself at the forefront of financial innovation in Barbados and the wider Caribbean. The Company has leveraged blockchain-based distributed ledger technology to produce the most efficient financial services ecosystem to date. Bitt has designed a protocol that can enable digital currency issuance and transactions while maintaining 100% solvency for all client deposits.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include all statements other than statements of historical fact. Additional information regarding factors that could materially affect results and the accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained herein may be found in the Company’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2017, which was filed with the SEC on November 8, 2017, and any subsequent filings with the SEC.