Swiss Bitcoin app Relai lands finance influencer FinanzFabio as investor
What's the deal? Swiss Bitcoin startup Relai has closed a new funding round with backing from Fabio Marchesin, the finance influencer known as FinanzFabio, and his firm finanzfabio agDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Founded in Zurich in 2020 by Julian Liniger and Adem Bilican, Relai runs a Bitcoin-only app that lets users buy and sell the cryptocurrency in minutes through a self-custody wallet.
Who's backing it? Marchesin, described by Relai as the largest and best-known finance influencer in Switzerland, was one of the company's first customers and has recommended the app for years. He will now advise on marketing and on positioning Relai as a financial company in Switzerland and Europe.
What's the money for? The fresh capital goes toward expanding and strengthening the app. Relai counts more than 100,000 users and recently passed 620,000 app downloads.
Why now? Both sides frame the raise, closed during a Bitcoin market recovery, as a statement of intent. "Building happens now more than ever" (translated from German), the company said.
What's the endgame? Relai and Marchesin both invoked ambitions to build a "Bitcoin unicorn." "Relai is the investment I've long wished for," Marchesin said (translated from German), pointing to CEO Liniger as the founder to get there.
The company's footing. Relai differentiates itself through self-custody, never holding Bitcoin on behalf of customers. It is affiliated with the FINMA-recognised self-regulatory body VQF and has processed more than $1 billion in cumulative trading volume. Since October 2025, its French subsidiary Relai EU SASUDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has held a MiCA licence from the Autorité des marchés financiers, opening access to the European single market.
The signal: The tie-up shows how crypto startups are turning trusted influencers into cap-table partners, folding audience reach into distribution strategy. For Relai, converting a long-time advocate into an investor signals a push to scale across Europe as regulation under MiCA opens the bloc's single market.
Read more: moneycab.com
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