Valora, a Celo-powered mobile-first digital wallet, raised $20 million in a Series A sponsored by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The money will be used for product innovation and instructional content to make more people familiar with adopting cryptocurrencies, according to Valora. The company has declared that it would become independent.
Valora, a payments-focused decentralised stablecoin has secured $20 million in a financing round. Valora has also stated that it is breaking away from cLabs, where it originated as an internal initiative and will now function as a separate business. Jackie Bona, the former head of Celo’s consumer growth, will take over as Valora’s new CEO. Celo has now raised a total of $65 million in funding.
The company also claimed that its Celo Dollar (cUSD) stablecoin, which is pegged by other Celo ecosystem cryptocurrencies, has over 53,000 monthly active users who can transmit money to over 100 countries across the world. CELO, the cryptocurrency’s native token, is currently trading at $2.55 at the time of writing.
Celo’s major advantage is its emphasis on smartphone consumers. According to the firm, the number of smartphone owners is growing at an exponential rate, but the number of cryptocurrency users is growing at a far slower rate. Cryptocurrency is also well-suited to areas where a substantial portion of the population lacks access to the financial system yet has a smartphone.
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Celo seeks to bridge the gap between the two technologies while also leveraging the benefits of DeFi by facilitating the construction of DApps and smart contracts. The Celo blockchain, which is optimised for smartphones, automatically calculates transaction costs and lets users pay the gas fees that power transactions in any currency. No other crypto program comes close to this level of convenience. Thanks to Valora’s revolutionary technology and user-friendly interface, anyone new to crypto and DeFi may join in this expanding ecosystem.
Jackie Bona, the now CEO of Valora, stated in a statement that Valora is making bitcoin and DeFi more accessible. The firm envisions a society where everyone has access to the riches and opportunities produced by the new global financial system. It will work to expand access and establish bridges to a more equitable and inclusive future.
In addition, Celo has collaborated with the Grameen Foundation to utilise Valora to give help to over 3500 women businesses in the Philippines who have been affected by Covid-19. Valora is used by Impact Market for the global distribution of help through one of the world’s largest private UBI programs. Celo is also collaborating with Impact Market on the development of an app that will allow consumers to send money from their smartphones to their bank accounts while also paying transaction fees.
Valora is used by Corsali also uses Valora to pay payments received via digital microwave work in emerging countries. They frequently use it as a worker’s first bank account and introduction to cryptocurrency, helping workers gain confidence in the new tool and begin to use additional functions such as saving and investing.
Closing Thoughts
As of now, Valora has not announced any expansion regarding the platform although they do promise to do good by the funding they received and persist on what their company set out to do: making the crypto space accessible for the masses. Specifically to those who want to invest in cryptocurrency but have no time nor resources to learn how to do so. The interested investors won’t have to worry about the volatility as CELO is a stablecoin, staying at a solid one US Dollars every time.
It is still advised to be wary as there might be cyber criminals who might take advantage of people’s naivety and trick investors into losing their money. Always make sure that the website or application is legitimate before inputting valuable information to keep you and your money safe.
