NYDIG acquires British bitcoin startup Bottlepay in $300 million stock purchase
Quick Take
- NYDIG has acquired a British payments startup focused on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.
- The crypto custody and investment firm is paying for the deal in shares worth around $300 million.
NYDIG, the New York-based crypto company, has acquired British payments startup Bottlepay, according to people familiar with the matter.
NYDIG will pay for the company in shares, and the deal is worth between $280 to 300 million (equivalent to 3% of NYDIG’s shares). The acquisition closed earlier this week.
A spokesperson for NYDIG declined to comment when reached.
Founded in 2019 and based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Bottlepay facilitates instant payments in a range of currencies, including bitcoin. The platform uses the Lightning Network – a bitcoin-centric protocol that aims to facilitate faster payments.
British billionaire Alan Howard is Bottlepay’s largest shareholder. He led an £11 million investment in Bottlepay in February 2021, alongside NYDIG and FinTech Collective, the venture capital firm. That round valued the company at £51 million.
Howard seeded Bottlepay together with Chris Tuohy, a director and investor in the startup who was formerly considered a “star trader” at Tudor Investment Corporation, the investment firm founded by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.
NYDIG helps institutions expand into crypto with a range of custody and trading tools. The company has raised $300 million across two rounds this year alone from investors including Morgan Stanley, New York Life and Soros Fund Management. Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo have all partnered with the business in order to roll out bitcoin investment products of their own for clients.
In April, NYDIG acquired Arctos Capital, a commercial lender providing financial products to bitcoin holders, investors and miners. Earlier in the year, it acquired Digital Assets Data, an analytics firm.
Howard, the former CEO of the hedge fund Brevan Howard, has made a large number of bets on crypto infrastructure startups this year. His investments include the crypto custodians Copper and Komainu; CoinShares, the asset manager; and the crypto lender Ledn.
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