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Bitcoin Rewards Site Lolli Raises $10M, Eyes Gaming Sector for Growth

Influencers from Logan Paul to Up North Media participated in the Series A.

Updated May 9, 2023, 3:22 a.m. Published Jul 28, 2021, 1:00 p.m.

Bitcoin rewards company Lolli has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Acrew Capital. Social media influencers Logan Paul, Chantel Jeffries and Sway House were involved in the round.

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Lolli will use the funding to expand the company and develop its recently launched mobile app with plans to be more active in the gaming community, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

Lolli CEO Alex Adelman told CoinDesk there has been increased interest in crypto from influencers. Many of those investing in the app are also helping to “distribute bitcoin to as many people as possible” and “spread the message of Lolli,” Adelman said.

(It’s a template Lolli used with beauty influencer Michelle Phan following its seed funding round in May 2020.)

Lolli’s mobile app was launched a few weeks ago and currently offers an average of 7% back in bitcoin rewards. Users have earned more than $3.5 million in bitcoin rewards to date, Adelman said.

Lolli plans to become more active in the gaming community, Adelman said, seeing it as a major opportunity to add more users.

“There are a few investors we have such as Up North Media managed by the Hock brothers who specialize in gaming talent,” Adelman told CoinDesk. “They represent Formula, which is one of the biggest gamers in the world, and NoisyButters, Coconut Brah, KO24Q and a lot of great gamers which have come into the round, as well.”

Lolli has direct partnerships with 1,000 merchants that typically offer fiat rewards on various e-commerce sites. Lolli converts that to bitcoin for the crypto-savvy.

The company has 20 employees and is planning to double its head count in the next year by hiring more engineering, marketing and support staff, Adelman said.

Other investors in Lolli include recommitments from early investors, including entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian’s venture-capital firm Seven Seven Six , Third Kind Venture Capital, Gabriel Leydon, who's the CEO and founder of video-game company Machine Zone, and Forerunner Ventures. In March, Lolli raised $5 million with contributions from tennis star Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures.

Funding Lolli Bitcoin Rewards

Tanzeel Akhtar

Tanzeel Akhtar has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes Africa, Financial Times, The Street, Citywire, Investing.com, Euromoney, Yahoo! Finance, Benzinga, Kitco News, African Business Magazine, Hedge Week, Campden Family Office, Modern Investor, Spear's Wealth Management Magazine, Global Investor, ETF.com, ETF Stream, CIO UK, Funds Global Asia, Portfolio Institutional, Interactive Investor, Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoNews.com, Bitcoin.com, The Local, The Next Web, Mining Journal, Money Marketing, Marketing Week and more. Tanzeel trained as a foreign correspondent at the University of Helsinki, Finland and newspaper journalist at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She holds a BA (Honours) in English Literature from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and completed a semester abroad as an ERASMUS student at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is NCTJ Qualified - Media Law, Public Administration and passed the Shorthand 100WPM with distinction. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.