India’s latest unicorn is cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX, backed by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Severin’s B Capital Group, is the latest unicorn in the block. The exchange raised $90 million from investors, led by B Capital in the latest Series C round to become the country’s first cryptocurrency unicorn. CoinDCX is now valued at $1.1 billion.

Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one, and Jump Capital are some of the other investors. “The funds raised will be allocated to expand (bring more Indians to crypto/make crypto a popular investment asset class in India) and strengthen our workforce that will cater to our growth story. We will hire talent across multiple functions, and focus on new business initiatives,” said Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Sumit Gupta.

Gupta said that the exchange will also enter into partnerships with key fintech players to expand the 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, and amp up hiring initiatives.

CoinDCX will strengthen its product team and improve user interface along with exploring more certifications and collaborations to bring its users the safest measures in investment, it said.

The investment and the subsequent valuation comes even as lawmakers continue to debate on digital currencies. Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das had recently said that the central bank has ‘major concerns’ about cryptocurrencies, which it has conveyed to the government. Nevertheless, investments in cryptocurrencies continue to grow. It reached nearly $6.6 billion in May from $923 million in April.

CoinDCX was set up in 2018 by Gupta, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. CoinDCX, registered in Singapore as Primestack Pte., aims to increase its user base from 3.5 million to 50 million in the coming years. It also aims to launch new products, including CoinDCX Prime for wealthy individuals and enterprises, and Cosmex, CoinDCX’s global trading product.

The company launched CoinDCX Go in January. They also have an automated KYC process that it enabled with its partnership with Onfido. CoinDCX is an ISO-certified cryptocurrency platform.

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