Helicarrier announced it had acquired a significant equity interest in Accrue; Buycoins Basic began transitioning into Accrue.
SourceCryptocurrency infrastructure for Africa.
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Helicarrier (formerly Buycoins) is an Africa-focused crypto-financial services company founded in 2017. It builds cryptocurrency infrastructure spanning consumer exchange, remittances, OTC desk services, payments tooling, and the Accrue savings/wealth product, with the public record also showing a later headcount shrink and founder departures.
Primary product
Cryptocurrency infrastructure for Africa (Buycoins, Sendcash, Desk, and Accrue)
Founded
2017
Headquarters
Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
Team size
1-10 employees
Work style
Remote
Industry
Financial Services
Sub-industry
Cryptocurrency infrastructure / crypto fintech
Offices
0 jobs at Helicarrier (prev Buycoins)
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Business model
Stage
Seed
Total raised
$2.3M
Latest round
Venture Round · Feb 2021
Latest amount
$1M
Leadership
Co-founder, CEO & CTO
Co-founder, COO & VP Engineering
Tomiwa Lasebikan
Co-founder & Chief Product Officer
Investors
Public reporting describes a remote, asynchronous, trust-based culture. The team used written, tool-based coordination, kept a working-day meeting window, and emphasized direct relationships with co-founders, product sense, customer support, execution speed, and tenacity.
Work style
Remote
Benefits
Pricing
Transaction fees and spread-based pricing for consumer trading and remittance; Desk pricing is private / personalized and not publicly disclosed.
Differentiators
Technology
Customers
Competitors
Estimated monthly visits
194.2K
Traffic estimate as of Feb 2022
Helicarrier announced it had acquired a significant equity interest in Accrue; Buycoins Basic began transitioning into Accrue.
SourceBuycoins Pro was announced for sunset; users were told to withdraw assets while OTC trading remained available.
SourceTechpoint reported that founders had quietly left by 2023, and that Timi Ajiboye had taken full-time employment at The Browser Company in 2025, raising questions about the company’s future.
SourceTechpoint Africa · Feb 2025
Reported that company filings showed Ire Aderinokun’s director appointment was set to end in 2023 and Tomiwa Lasebikan’s had ended in 2021; Timi Ajiboye later took a full-time role elsewhere.
Mariblock · Jan 2024
Reported that Buycoins Pro was being discontinued and users were told to withdraw assets over the following three months.
Techpoint Africa · Dec 2023
Summarized the announced sunsetting of Buycoins Pro and noted that OTC trading via Desk would remain available.
Business Post Nigeria · Oct 2022
Covered Helicarrier’s acquisition of a significant equity interest in Accrue and the transition of Buycoins Basic into Accrue.
TechCabal · Oct 2021
Explained the rebrand from Buycoins to Helicarrier, the rationale for the new parent-company identity, and the product suite spanning exchange, remittance, payments, and NGNT.