Investors Inundate Zap’s Mallers After El Salvador Bitcoin Push
- Money-transfer startup seeks to expand to 100 countries
- Mallers’ efforts were initially funded by family members
Jack Mallers, founder of Zap, listens during the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, Florida, U.S., on Saturday, June 5, 2021.
Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/BloombergJust a few months ago, Jack Mallers was pretty much indistinguishable from the horde of baseball cap and hoodie-wearing young men touting Bitcoin. Now venture capitalists are clamoring to offer him money.
The 27-year-old founder of a Bitcoin money-transfer startup Zap Solutions Inc. burst onto the mainstream in June when El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele embraced Bitcoin. Mallers, who was reduced to tears while on stage at a Miami conference when the announcement was made via video, had been working behind the scenes with the government to make it happen. Zap expects to finalize fresh funding soon, Mallers told Bloomberg News.