Digital wallet Colu has reportedly raised $14.5m in a new wave of funding from IDB Development Corporation.
The investment was an equity injection and a commitment to Colu’s token sale, which launched its pre-sale a month-ago, according to various reports in the media. Colu’s token pre-sale has also seen contributions from Spark Capital, ALEPH, etoro, and Tom Glocer.
Israel-based Colu is a digital wallet that enables users to make instant payments from their phone to local businesses. The platform encourages people to use independent, local stores, with discounts and offers given to customers. Currently, the solution is used in four cities, Tel Aviv, Haifa, London, and Manchester.
Colu also wants to empower consumers to use cryptocurrencies by connecting purchases through the digital wallet app to a payment network that offers token incentives.
Total funding into Colu has now totalled $26m, with the company raising a $9m round last year.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency has seen a crazy year for investments, with the sector almost seeing triple the levels of funding than that of 2016. So far, this year has seen $1.4bn deployed to companies focusing on these solutions, compared to last year, where only $572m was funded. While there has been this huge increase to funding, 2017 has seen 63 less transactions.
Copyright © 2017 FinTech Global
