Contxto – Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) has its eye on the future that cryptocurrency fans have been going on for years. Specifically, it wants to invest in the acceleration of startups with an opening, for the first time, specifically for a solution revolving around Bitcoin.
BNDES will do this by injecting R$20 million (about US$4 million) into Angel Fund, a fund of funds administered by VC Domo Invest. Its purpose is that of propelling innovative startups and their solutions to success.
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This is the Brazilian development bank’s first tango with the fund. It is second contribution and, by its own accounts, it hopes to invest a total of US$12 million out of the fund’s future estimated total of US$29 million. BNDES and the fund are currently at US$8 and US$15 million respectively.
QR Capital, pioneering for BNDES
The slow increments of funds give time for the times to change and for the funds managers and investors to reconsider the future potential of certain solutions. The opening up of the fund to cryptocurrencies no doubt is a reflection of the evolving landscape.
Indeed, the Brazilian government’s recent, albeit slow, implementation of a new fintech law has opened the doors for official institutions to dip their toe into the world of crypto.
And how is crypto-solution benefiting from the Angel Fund? It will be a Brazilian fintech by the name of QR Capital. In the company’s own words, it is a “fintech that creates, develops, and invests in companies of the cryptographic, currency, and blockchain ecosystem.”
Bitcoin and crypto, from cryptic to mainstream
QR Capital is no doubt a good case study of how cryptocurrencies and blockchain are slowly permeating even into the slowest adopting sectors of society; government bureaucracies.
It takes two to tango, and as the Brazilian government has moved to catch up with the times; fintechs have moved in step to make the most of it.
The startup has certainly jumped through all the legal hoops the Brazilian government has set up for it. After getting the nod of approval by the Brazilian Stock Exchange the fintech continues to restructure under the name of QR Asset in order to streamline their investment units.
No doubt, both to the benefit of their customers, as well as the regulators.
Thanks to its efforts, QR Capital applied to this aforementioned round of Angel Fund funding along with 7,000 other companies. It was one of four that successfully secured the cash.
It feels like the Wild West era of crypto is slowly, but surely, coming to an end in Brazil and Latin America as a whole.
Related articles: Tech and startups from Brazil!
-AG
