Jack Dorsey-Backed African Bitcoin VC Firm Recursive Capital Closes Raise

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Jack Dorsey is an anchor investor in African Bitcoin venture capital firm Recursive Capital.

Image courtesy of Recursive Capital (Jack Dorsey photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Recursive Capital, a venture capital firm focused on investing in African Bitcoin companies, announced the first close of its Fund I today.

The anchor investors in this round were Block Chairman Jack Dorsey; former Partner at Goldman Sachs and Chairman of Fortress Investment Group , Peter L. Briger, Jr., and author of The Price of Tomorrow and Founding Partner at Ego Death Capital , Jeff Booth.

Recursive Capital invests exclusively in early-stage companies based in Africa that reflect that resilient nature of Bitcoin. Its operating thesis is that Africa’s unique monetary and financial issues make it the ideal region to become the Bitcoin development capital of the world.

The firm’s CEO, Abubakar Nur Khalil, a Nigerian Bitcoin Core contributor who also serves as the interim CEO of ₿trust, a Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey-funded Bitcoin non-profit that funds African Bitcoin developers , commented on the purpose the fund in a press release.

“The focus of Fund I is to lay the foundations for a thriving Bitcoin ecosystem in Africa that will lead the world in innovation, growth and impact,” said Nur Khalil.

The Details Of Fund I

Fund I is aimed at supporting Bitcoin infrastructure companies (e.g., bitcoin miners), companies creating products that have commercial use cases (e.g., bitcoin exchanges and wallets) and companies building cutting-edge technology on the Lightning Network and Fedimint protocols.

The fund invests between $50,000 to $100,000 on average to each of the companies in its portfolio and strictly makes equity investments; it doesn’t engage in alternative financing structures or accept tokenized securities or altcoins in exchange for investment.

Nur Khalil believes that Africa can be a leader in Bitcoin development.

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Since the launch of Fund I, Recursive has invested in Bitnob, which offers bitcoin-native financial services and facilitates cross-border payments; Fedi, which has created a “Community Superapp” that enables collaborative custody of bitcoin, and Synota, which streamlines utility bill payments over the Lightning Network.

Investors In The Fund

Jack Dorsey has been a long-time proponent of Bitcoin adoption in Africa and has been investing in Bitcoin-related companies on the … Read More