Relai raises $4.5 million to ramp up crypto platform

Swiss Bitcoin platform, Relai has raised $4.5 million to strengthen its grip on the crypto onramp market. 

The round was led by ego death capital - Andi Pitt, founding partner will also join Relai’s board, bringing with her former trading experience as Vice President of trading at Goldman Sachs, New York. 

Other investors in the round are Timechain, Cabrit Capital, and Lightning Ventures and both Redalpine and Fulgur Ventures are showing continued belief as they are investing again.

Redalpine led the previous round which included crowdfunding, exceeding all the expectations closing the original €1.5 million round at €2.16 million. Including the ego death capital led round, Relai have raised a total of $11.8 million to date, across five rounds, since its initial seed round in 2020. 

The start-up was founded by Julian Liniger and Adem Bilican when they were looking for a hassle-free way to safely buy bitcoin. They created the platform to allow retail investors buy and sell bitcoin without the additional constraints of registration, verification, or deposits – it also gives investors full control of their funds via a non-custodial bitcoin wallet.

Relai recently launched an offering to attract small and medium-sized businesses to bitcoin trading with Relai Business. 

“The current bear market is the perfect time to focus on what’s most important: building a top-notch product, delivering a seamless user experience, and educating people about Bitcoin as the best savings technology ever invented,” says Julian Liniger, CEO and co-founder at Relai.

“Our team is hungry for what’s ahead, and we have a crystal clear plan that we will execute in the coming months. With ego death capital and the great network around Jeff Booth, Andi Pitt, and Nico Lechuga, we are ready to bring bitcoin to everyone in Europe.”

Funds will go towards expanding platform services with zero-fee trading, upgrading to Lightning, and launching a white-label product that will let other fin-techs offer fiat-to-bitcoin trading. 

“We’ve been really impressed by Julian and the Relai team and their ability to deliver long-term value to users,” says Jeff Booth, General Partner at ego death capital. “We believe they will be a key player for European Bitcoin adoption and are excited to work with them.”