Mara raises $23 million led by Coinbase and Alameda to promote cryptocurrencies in Africa

Cryptocurrency exchange Mara said Wednesday it raised $23 million. According to a press release, the round was led by Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, Distributed Global, Day One Ventures, TQ Ventures, and others.

Chief executive Chi Nnandi said Mara plans to invest in a range of products targeting Nigeria and Kenya, Africa's two largest countries, before expanding into East Africa and French-speaking countries. Mara is trying to crack a burgeoning crypto space: Crypto adoption in Africa grew by $106 billion in the year ending June 2021, according to World Economic Forum estimates.

Cryptocurrencies in Africa

In an interview, Nnandi said he was trying to change the narrative expressed by Yuval Noah Harari in "Homo Deus": When new technologies arrive, poor countries are left behind. The thought "lit up the bottom of his heart," he said.

He's trying to do this by creating products that not only allow users to trade cryptocurrencies (such as Mara's upcoming Android app and advanced trading platform), but also developing his own Web 3 products. Mara plans to host a hackathon after launch to inspire developers to "build the Web 3 engineering community," Nnandi said.