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| L to R: Vimal Sagar - Co-founder & COO, Govind Soni - Co-founder & CTO and Ashish Singhal - Co-founder & CEO |
- CoinSwitch Kuber raises USD 260 million in Series C funding from Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
- With participation from both its Crypto and Growth funds, a16z is making its first investment in an Indian startup
- Coinbase Ventures joins a16z and existing investors Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global
- CoinSwitch Kuber has reached unicorn status and is now India's largest crypto asset platform, valued at $1.9 billion serving 10 million+ Indian customers
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CoinSwitch Kuber, India's fastest growing crypto asset platform, today announced that it has closed a $260+ million Series C funding round from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Coinbase Ventures and existing investors Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global. a16z is a globally leading venture capital firm known to back bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology while Coinbase is one of the early pioneers of creating a crypto economy and operates one of the world's largest crypto exchanges.
This investment makes CoinSwitch Kuber a unicorn and the most valuable crypto company in India valued at $1.9 Billion.
CoinSwitch Kuber will utilise the funds for:
Ashish Singhal, Co-founder and CEO, CoinSwitch Kuber, said, "CoinSwitch Kuber is on a mission to build wealth for Indians by making crypto more accessible. I believe, simplifying crypto investments for the Indian youth has helped us to stand out. We wanted to remove all the complexities in crypto trading, educate consumers and give them a simplified experience of one-click buy and sell in crypto. We are humbled by the trust shown in CoinSwitch Kuber by two of the biggest names in the global crypto investment arena with Andreessen Horowitz choosing us to be their first investment in India. Coinbase Ventures' investment is also testimony to the confidence they have in CoinSwitch Kuber's business model and the tremendous potential India's crypto space has to offer."
"The CoinSwitch Kuber team has worked round the clock to be the most preferred platform for crypto investors in India. This has helped us to reach the unicorn status in just over 14 months of operations in India. Over the last one year our focus has been to develop a robust product for Indian consumers. Now with this funding, we hope to propel ourselves further on our mission to bring crypto to every household in India."
"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."
Started in 2017 by Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni, and Vimal Sagar, CoinSwitch was launched as a global aggregator of crypto exchanges. The company launched its India operations in June 2020. CoinSwitch Kuber's previous investors include Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global along with notable angel investors like Kunal Shah. CoinSwitch Kuber has over 10 million users in India with a monthly active user base of over seven million.
CoinSwitch Kuber will utilise the funds for:
- Onboarding 50 million Indians on the CoinSwitch Kuber platform and introduction of new crypto products – Through this investment, CoinSwitch Kuber's primary goal is to onboard 50 million users and make crypto a household name, thereby continuing to dominate the retail crypto market in India. The firm plans to achieve this through the launch of new crypto products/services such as lending, staking among others, to enable users to benefit the most out of this decentralised technology.
- Leadership hiring – CoinSwitch Kuber also aims to acquire the best talent including leaders and experts across Engineering, Product, Data, Growth etc to define the crypto industry in India.
- Addition of new asset classes – The company plans to design ways of simplifying the investment journey of Indians, and in the process offer multiple avenues of investment for them through different products and asset classes.
- Onboarding institutional clients – There is a growing interest amongst institutions to enter the crypto market and CoinSwitch Kuber intends to tap into this opportunity. The crypto leader will facilitate institutional investments by offering them a unique product that serves their end-to-end requirements.
- Launching an Ecosystem Fund – India has a huge talent pool that can build world class products/ protocols in crypto. Currently, a strong support system to back these brilliant minds at work is lacking. As the biggest crypto company in India, CoinSwitch Kuber will be setting up an ecosystem fund to identify and enable the budding talent in the country.
- Crypto awareness & education - Crypto is still at a nascent stage and there isn't enough awareness around it. The firm will utilise these funds to create a knowledge-driven crypto ecosystem in India and provide holistic crypto education to investors, both current and prospective, thus, helping them navigate the market and understand multiple facets of this new asset class.
Ashish Singhal, Co-founder and CEO, CoinSwitch Kuber, said, "CoinSwitch Kuber is on a mission to build wealth for Indians by making crypto more accessible. I believe, simplifying crypto investments for the Indian youth has helped us to stand out. We wanted to remove all the complexities in crypto trading, educate consumers and give them a simplified experience of one-click buy and sell in crypto. We are humbled by the trust shown in CoinSwitch Kuber by two of the biggest names in the global crypto investment arena with Andreessen Horowitz choosing us to be their first investment in India. Coinbase Ventures' investment is also testimony to the confidence they have in CoinSwitch Kuber's business model and the tremendous potential India's crypto space has to offer."
"The CoinSwitch Kuber team has worked round the clock to be the most preferred platform for crypto investors in India. This has helped us to reach the unicorn status in just over 14 months of operations in India. Over the last one year our focus has been to develop a robust product for Indian consumers. Now with this funding, we hope to propel ourselves further on our mission to bring crypto to every household in India."
"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."
Started in 2017 by Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni, and Vimal Sagar, CoinSwitch was launched as a global aggregator of crypto exchanges. The company launched its India operations in June 2020. CoinSwitch Kuber's previous investors include Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global along with notable angel investors like Kunal Shah. CoinSwitch Kuber has over 10 million users in India with a monthly active user base of over seven million.
About CoinSwitch Kuber
CoinSwitch Kuber is India's fastest-growing and foremost crypto platform with more than 10 million users. Started in 2017 by Ashish Singhal (CEO), Govind Soni (CTO), and Vimal Sagar (COO) as a global aggregator of cryptocurrency exchanges, the startup offers buying of over 80+ coins with 1-click experience. CoinSwitch Kuber began operations in India in June 2020, to make crypto investing as easy as ordering food online. It aims to create an investment ecosystem that simplifies investing in crypto for retail users. The leaders at the firm believe in financial inclusion - that wealth, investment, and financial knowledge are for everyone. The company's mission is to democratise cryptocurrency investment so the everyday man can make his money work for him. The exchange combines transparent pricing with an extensive knowledge hub so users can make informed decisions and thrive in a dynamic digital investment world.
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