Vaurum, a startup that offers code that banks and other financial institutions can use to offer Bitcoins, raised a $4 million seed round of funding from venture investor Tim Draper, former AOL CEO Steve Case, Battery Ventures and others.
The Palo Alto startup led by CEO Avish Bhama was picked as one of the best companies pitching at a Plug and Play Expo in December.
Vaurum’s software helps financial institutions host their own Bitcoin exchanges.
Bhama told me in December that he hopes to collect a fee on every transaction done through financial institutions with his code. Click here to see a short video pitch from him and the other winners at the December expo.
“Most investors — even savvy institutions -— need an easy-to-use and compliant platform through which to buy and sell Bitcoins, and we provide that solution,”
Bhama said in a prepared statement.
Bhama co-founded Vaurum with Sean Lavine after working for several years in the financial markets as a fixed income trader and foreign exchange analyst at tech giant Apple.
Vaurum is the first Bitcoin startup that Battery Ventures has backed.
“There is a need for a secure bitcoin-trading system, and we look forward to supporting Vaurum as it grows this nascent market,”
Battery General Partner Roger Lee said in a prepared statement.
