OB1, the developer behind Bitcoin-powered marketplace OpenBazaar, has picked up $3m in a new funding round led by Berlin-based VC BlueYard Capital.
Funding also came from existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures.
Grown out of a 2014 hackathon project dubbed DarkMarket, OpenBazaar aims to offers a marketplace that allows users to sell anything to each other regardless of location.
The decentralised nature of the peer-to-peer software underlying the marketplace means that no party controls it allowing users to pay each other directly, free of any charges.
Union Square Ventures managing partner Brad Burnham said, “The reach and diversity of OpenBazaar usage shows the potential for decentralized applications: within a week of its release, buyers and sellers from 129 countries joined the network and began transacting with each other for free.
“We believe OpenBazaar has an opportunity to fundamentally transform the market structure of commerce, and we’re excited to welcome BlueYard as a new partner and co-investor in OB1.”
The company says it will use the capital to continue development of the platform with an eye to release a 2.0 version of the software.
It will also look to develop value-added services that could eventually serve to monetise the platform.
OpenBazaar previously picked up a $1m seed round in June 2015.
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