Melbourne, Australia-based startup CoinJar announced it will receive “Australia’s first major bitcoin investment”, signing a deal with local venture capital firm Blackbird Ventures to the tune of A$500,000 (US$455,000). The money will come from a group of individual investors with years of technology and startup experience.

CoinJar, founded in February 2013 by local entrepreneurs Asher Tan and Ryan Zhou, is a bitcoin buy/sell exchange and online wallet service with a clean and simple interface that allows customers to link certain bank accounts for direct transfers in and out of the system. It has also developed an iPhone app available internationally and CoinJar Checkout, a payment processing system for merchants with daily transfers from bitcoin to local fiat currency.