Billionaire hedge fund mogul Alan Howard and a selection of current and former Goldman Sachs partners are among the backers of a new British startup developing a bitcoin-payments app, as the cryptocurrency continues to fascinate the markets.

The founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management participated in an £11m seed funding round for Bottlepay, the startup said on 22 February. Other backers include venture capital firm Fintech Collective, the bitcoin-focused financial services firm New York Digital Investment Group and entrepreneur Phil Doye.