CoinSwitch Kuber has become the 2nd Indian crypto startup this year to enter the Unicorn club at a valuation of $1.9 billion.
Cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch Kuber has raised around $260 million from a consortium of investors, according to an Economic Times (ET) report.
Leading the pack are Silicon Valley-based venture fund Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures.
Andreessen Horowitz has contributed $80 million, and Coinbase Ventures has invested $150 million in the Series-C Round. The rest of the funds came from existing investors including Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global.
CoinSwitch Kuber wishes to become the “next biggest fintech player in India” and diversify its product offerings by including other financial products, besides cryptocurrencies, cofounder and CEO Ashish Singhal told ET.
“They have lessons on growing the company, growing the culture, hiring the best people, creating a multi-billion-dollar startup company,” he told ET. “Our investors have taken those risks early and have seen this industry grow, and believe in this industry so much. That’s the reason they feel India could be the largest consumer as well as producer of new blockchain products, and they don’t want to miss out on this opportunity.”
As of now, the Singapore headquartered exchange has raised a total of $300 million, notwithstanding the uncertain regulatory landscape in India.
Singhal has expressed his faith in Andreessen Horowitz. He believes that it can guide them in transitioning to a company from a startup as it has done previously with other startups.
“They have lessons on growing the company, growing the culture, hiring the best people, creating a multi-billion-dollar startup company.”
The startup will use the money to scale up its user base to 50 million users by educating them. It also plans to improve its product development department by aggressively hiring tech talent.
“We are incredibly excited about the crypto market opportunity in India, and with its breakout growth, CoinSwitch has emerged as the leading retail platform in the country,” said David George, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “Ashish and the team have demonstrated strong execution abilities and the ambition to deliver an investment platform for the masses in India.”
CoinSwitch Kuber’s valuation has soared by about four times to $1.9 billion. It is the 2nd crypto startup in India to enter the Unicorn club after CoinDCX.
Overall, this year it is the 30th Indian startup to achieve Unicorn status.
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