London, September 2024 – UK-based Bitcoin payments business, Musqet, has successfully closed a £750k funding round, led by Axiom alongside a group of high-net-worth individuals and predominantly UK-based angel investors. This round will support Musqet’s growth as they continue to bring Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network to the mainstream market.
Musqet’s forward-thinking solution allows businesses to integrate Bitcoin payments seamlessly alongside traditional card methods, catering to both online and in-store merchants with partnerships to offer integrated electronic point of sale (ePOS) till software and business management tools, positioning Musqet as a versatile, future-ready payments and business management software provider.
In August 2024, Musqet completed the development of their online payment gateway, featuring a payment orchestration layer and low-cost routing capabilities and instant conversion from Bitcoin to Sterling and Euro via University of Cambridge backed exchange partner Solidi, enabling them to support online businesses and physical stores alike.
David Parkinson, CEO of Musqet, commented: “Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of self-custodial Bitcoin, and to see it widely adopted as a payment method. Closing this funding round is essential to our journey and will allow us to deepen our engineering talent pool and invest in business development activities to support growth.”
A recent feature in Forbes online outlines the growing importance of Bitcoin infrastructure and Musqet is positioning itself for mainstream adoption of the payment technology.
Musqet’s Product Suite:
• Card present (In-store payments)
• Online payment gateway
• ePOS and business management software
• Bitcoin payments (On-chain and Lightning) including instant conversion to Sterling and Euro
• Payroll solutions
Bitcoin payroll
The Musqet product offering also extends into Bitcoin payroll services through their strategic partnership with Cartwright, a pioneering employee rewards advisory firm. Launching in Q4 2024, this solution will enable businesses to offer Bitcoin as an employee reward, paid monthly directly into employees’ Bitcoin lightning wallets.
Ben de Waal, CTO of Musqet, said: “By re-implementing our merchant Bitcoin infrastructure to make payments rather than take them we are empowering more individuals to receive Bitcoin as part of their salary or perks. This aligns with the growing trend of an increasingly mobile and digitally native global workforce. Partnering with Cartwright made strategic sense as they share our vision for Bitcoin’s role in employee benefits and as a strategic treasury asset.”
Bitcoin Investment in the UK
Despite the challenging economic headwinds of the past two years, the UK’s Bitcoin investment scene is gaining recognition. With growing awareness of Bitcoin’s value as an asset class, the conditions for investment opportunities are looking increasingly favourable.
As the lead investor, Axiom is playing a leading role in this movement, raising their second venture fund and is working closely with policymakers to improve the potential for Bitcoin adoption in the UK.
Axiom’s Co-Founder and General Partner, Allen Farrington who will be joining the Musqet Board following the completion of the funding round, commented: “We are delighted to support Musqet on their journey. We expect demand for incremental and seamless acceptance of Bitcoin payments to grow over time, but equally to start at a very low base and follow Bitcoin’s own normalization. Musqet’s product is by far the best we have come across in terms of enabling merchant acceptance as seamlessly as possible without sacrificing legacy payment rails, and ultimately future-proofing their businesses”.
Musqet is poised to capitalise on the growing importance of Bitcoin adoption as businesses begin to recognise the benefits of Bitcoin payments and more individuals embrace it as an asset with Musqet driving momentum on both sides of the adoption curve. Over the next 12 months, Musqet will focus on expanding its presence in the UK market, with plans for a European rollout in Q4 2024 as inbound interest grows.
Musqet CEO, David Parkinson added: “Throughout the next year, our focus will be on growth and scaling to ensure we have a strong base and foothold in the UK market. In parallel, we are currently planning our expansion into Europe, where we see significant opportunity and demand for Bitcoin payment services.”
Upcoming Events
Musqet will be demonstrating their Bitcoin-led toolkit at several exhibitions in London and at conferences globally:
• Hospitality Tech Expo at the ExCel Centre on 15 & 16 October (Stand J124)
• The Business Show at the ExCel Centre on 13 & 14 November (Stand B1860)
• Plan B forum (Lugano, Switzerland)
• Adopting Bitcoin (San Salvador, El Salvador)
• Bitcoin Prague (Czech Republic)
For further information, visit Forbes.com, Musqet or Axiom.
For sales enquiries, call 0330 111 6102 or email hello@musqet.tech.
