Paymium, a Paris-based bitcoin payment services startup, has raised €1 Million ($1,126,000) in seed funding.

The round was contributed by French venture capital firms Newfund and Kima Ventures, as well Galitt, a payments consultancy and services firm. It also included a number of angel investors.

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The funding will go towards expanding Paymium’s presence in Europe and research and development.

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The service is similar to that of a Coinbase, acting as an exchange service for bitcoin buyers/sellers as well as facilitating merchant acceptance for payment.

The announcement comes at a time of a noticeable drop in crypto industry venture investment, particularly in the area of ‘traditional’ bitcoin-as-a-currency services, which have been increasingly overshadowed by growing interest in Bitcoin’s blockchain technology. However, the industry in Europe is still considered by some as ripe for development, and less saturated than in the US.

In addition, Paymium is also considering the implications of blockchain technology down the road. Co-founder Pierre Noizat commented: “The interest of Blockchain technology, on which the Bitcoin grows, is now widely recognized by the banking sector. This opens the way to new applications in the field of digital trust and payments.”

Last year, the company partnered with Showroomprive, at one point the largest merchant in Europe. It also partnered with point of sale (POS) and payment solutions provider Ingenico, also based in France, to support bitcoin payments earlier this year.