Bundil, cryptocurrency start-up whose app converts users’ spare change into Bitcoin, managed to secure $100,000 in funding from Shark Kevin O’Leary.
Bundil Clinches Deal
On Sunday’s episode of Shark Tank, Dmitri Love, founder of cryptocurrency start-up Bundil managed to secure a$100,000 investment from Kevin O’Leary, a Canadian entrepreneur and a veteran Shark on the show.
Shark Tank is a US-based television reality show on which young entrepreneurs get to pitch their ideas to a panel of five potential investors called sharks. The sharks choose whether to invest or not.
According to CNBC, O’Leary’s investment will buy him a 50% stake in Bundil, a platform that lets people convert their spare change into cryptocurrencies.
Inspiration for Bundil
Love was studying biochemistry at the University of Arkansas three years ago when he suffered a severe knee injury. While recovering, Love learned how to code and went on to become a software engineer.
During his presentation, Love told the Sharks:
I’m a web developer myself, and I wanted to invest in cryptocurrency, and my family also wanted to invest.
He continued:
So they came to me and were like, ‘Dmitri, how do we buy this? What do we do?’ So I thought, ‘Man, you know, anyone that’s trying to invest in cryptocurrency has to go through all these steps to try to figure out how to buy it. And I thought there could be an easier way for it to be done.
Love’s Unique Idea
Bundil is an app that enables users to convert spare change from credit or debit card purchases to any of the supported cryptocurrencies. The options include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.
The app rounds up each transaction to the nearest Dollar and invests the remaining spare change into crypto.
The other four sharks opted out for various reasons, but O’Leary’s interest was piqued. He offered Love $100,000 in exchange for 50% stake though he reportedly was unsure about the app’s viability, noting that the lifespan of many apps is not very long.
“Fifty percent is quite a bit,” Love is reported to have replied, but accepted the offer.
For Love and Bundil, the offer may just have come as a blessing in disguise. With the penetration of cryptocurrencies growing by the day, the funding may have arrived at just the right time.
Do you think it’s a good idea to use an app like Bundil and convert spare change to crypto? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Flickr/Disney | ABC Television Group, Bundil