On August 10, cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX announced that it had raised $90 million from Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook’s fund B Capital. It is now valued at $1.1 Billion.
It is India’s first cryptocurrency unicorn, with private startups valued at more than a billion dollars. This deal comes despite regulatory uncertainty and a cooling market following an investment frenzy over the first five months in 2021.
Existing investors, such as Polychain Capital, Block.one and Jump Capital, also invested. CoinDCX claims it currently has 3.5 million users and will use the funds raised to increase its reach and customer awareness.
Sumit Gupta (co-founder and CEO) stated that they would join hands or enter into partnerships to increase crypto investor base, establish a Research & Development facility (R&D), strengthen policy conversations through public dialogue, work with government to introduce favourable regulation, education, and boost hiring initiatives.
CoinDCX is not only a main exchange for retail investors. It also offers trading and lending services to enterprise customers.
Dramatic Growth
India is experiencing a dramatic growth in demand for cryptocurrencies and digital assets, yet only few platforms provide the efficiency, security and compliance that investors have come to expect,” the company said.
Crypto exchanges generally run profitable business models, making it attractive for investors, but CoinDCX did not disclose its revenue or profit numbers.
Both CoinDCX and Block.one, a crypto platform and investor in CoinDCX, are also angel investments of Sanjay Mehta, who now runs 100x VC, a micro venture fund spun off from his family office. He says he introduced the two companies to each other.
“I have seen CoinDCX’s growth right from being its seed investor, and helped raise their Series B with Block.one, also my portfolio company. It is great to see how network effects happen when an investor’s large portfolio can engage with each other and make the portfolio better,” Mehta told Moneycontrol