MoneyBadger, the South African crypto payments startup, has raised $400,000 (R7 million) in a pre-seed funding round led by P1 Ventures, alongside several crypto-native angel investors, including at least one who contributed using Bitcoin.
The fresh capital will accelerate MoneyBadger’s mission to bring Bitcoin payments to mainstream retail, helping consumers spend their crypto across more than 1,600 stores, including South Africa’s retail giant Pick n Pay.
Founded by Carel van Wyk (ex-Luno, SnapScan) and Carl Kritzinger (ex-FireWorks), MoneyBadger has developed a CryptoQR payment layer that integrates with top wallets like Luno, Binance, VALR, Aqua, and Blink, making crypto payments fast, secure, and easy at checkout.
Currently, Pick n Pay alone accounts for R1 million (approx. $59,000) in monthly Bitcoin transactions, highlighting growing crypto adoption in everyday retail use.
With the new funding, MoneyBadger plans to scale across new merchants and partner with QR-code and POS platforms to simplify crypto integration. Their mission: to make Bitcoin as usable as cash in African retail.
