Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX turns unicorn

Neblio Technologies-run cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has achieved the elite status of India’s first crypto unicorn. On Tuesday, the startup said it has raised $90 million (about Rs 668 crore) in a Series C round of funding at a valuation of $1.1 billion. 

The investment, a statement said, was led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group, with participation from returning investors Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one, Jump Capital and others.  

It takes the total funding raised by CoinDCX to $110 million. 

The capital will be to used increase awareness about cryptocurrency as an asset class in the Indian market as well as to strengthen workforce across key functions and business initiatives. 

Read: CoinDCX launches Ethereum-backed Liqueth token to support staking 

“...we will be joining hands or entering into partnerships with key fintech players to expand crypto investor base, set up a Research & Development (R&D) facility, strengthen the policy conversations through public discourse, work with the government to introduce favorable regulations, education,” Sumit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of the exchange, said in the statement. 

Founded in 2018, CoinDCX has onboarded 3.5 million users and plans to bring 50 million users into the world of crypto by scaling up its existing trading product and launching next-gen products and customer retention campaigns, among other things.  

“With the support of the largest institutional backers in both the traditional and digital asset spaces, we will double down on our efforts to build the next generation of products with cutting edge innovation, improve our existing product array, and strengthen our exchange infrastructure and product team in order to provide the most more secure trading experience with instant liquidity to our users,” Gupta added. 

One of the upcoming products is a Prime initiative in the HNI and enterprise space. It will provide legally vetted and safe investments as well as Cosmex, CoinDCX's global trading product.  

In India, the platform goes against the likes of WazirX, which was acquired by global exchange Binance in 2019, and Coinswitch Kuber, which has raised $40 million so far.