Cryptocurrency investment platform CoinSwitch Kuber has raised $15 million or Rs 109 Crore in its Series A funding round led by US-based fintech fund Ribbit Capital and San-Francisco based investment firm Paradigm. Existing investors Sequoia Capital and CRED founder Kunal Shah also participated in the round.
This deal marks Ribbit Capital’s maiden investment in the Indian cryptocurrency space. It is also the crypto-focused firm Paradigm’s first investment in India.
The fresh funds will be utilized by the Bengaluru-based firm to enhance product, security, compliance and tech capabilities.
Founded in 2017 by Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni, and Vimal Sagar Tiwari CoinSwitch was started as a global aggregator of cryptocurrency exchanges. The company launched its India exclusive cryptocurrency platform CoinSwitch Kuber right in the middle of the covid19 pandemic, in June 2020. The platform claims to have garnered over 1 million users to date and expects to have 10 million users in the next year.
“We aim to double down on the Indian market, and are targeting a ten times growth in our user base by the end of the year. To this end, we will invest in product and technology and also run a slew of awareness initiatives to educate investors about the potential of crypto as an emerging asset class,” said Singhal, CEO of CoinSwitch in a press release.
The virtual currency ecosystem has seen a boost in the past year, with many crypto-based firms raising funds in 2020. Mumbai-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX raised close to $19.4 million in December.
The cryptocurrency ecosystem gained respite in March 2020 when the Supreme Court revoked the two-year-old ban by RBI on cryptocurrency trading. Meanwhile, the government of India is planning to introduce a new law to ban trade through cryptocurrency.