Key Takeaways
- CoinSwitch Kübler secures $260M in a Series C funding round.
- This is the first investment by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) in India.
- Now Valued at $1.9 billion, CoinSwitch Kuber Becomes second crypto unicorn in India after CoinDCX.
- The largest crypto exchange in India by userbase has raised over $300 million to date.
Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch Kuber secures $260 million in a Series C funding round.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Leads $260M Series C Funding In CoinSwitch
The Series C funding round was led by Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). This is the first investment by Andreessen Horowitz in India. As of August 2021, the American venture capital firm a16z manages $18.8 billion in assets.
The Series C funding round also got participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, Ribbit Capital and Tiger Global.
CoinSwitch Kuber Becomes Second Crypto Unicorn In India
The Indian crypto exchange is now the second crypto unicorn precisely valued at $1.91 Billion.
Ashish Singhal, CoinSwitch Kuber co-founder and CEO, commented:
“Every evolution takes a leap of faith, we are taking a giant one today with CoinSwitch Kuber turning into a unicorn and becoming the largest crypto company in the country.”
Ashish Singhal, CoinSwitch Kuber co-founder and CEO
In August, another Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX raised US$90 million in a Series C funding round led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group. The funding boosted CoinDCX’s valuation to US$1.1 billion, making it India’s first crypto Unicorn.
Read More: CoinDCX Is Now India’s First Crypto Unicorn After $90M Funding
CoinSwitch Kuber
CoinSwitch Kuber is one of the largest crypto exchanges in India alongside platforms such as WazirX and CoinDCX. Launched in 2020, the crypto exchange previously raised $25 million from investors, including Tiger Global, in a Series B round in April, following a $15-million Series A round in January. The new funding brings the total funding till date to $300.6 million.
Founded by Ashish Singhal, Sagar Vimal, and Govind Soni, the crypto platform is now used by 11 million Indian users. The platform received 90% of growth in 2021. According to an official announcement, CoinSwitch userbase has grown form “1 Million users in November 2020 to 5 million in May 2021, to 10 million in September 2021”.
CoinSwitch Future Plans
The crypto firm plans to use the new funds to bring onboard 50 Million Indians on CoinSwitch Kuber, launch new Crypto products and services like lending and staking to enable users to benefit from this decentralized technology.
The company has also planned expand its team size across Tech, Product, Growth, and Support departments.
The crypto exchange is planning to add new asset classes to offer multiple investment options, and introduce a product for institutional clients.
Other planned initiatives include setting up an innovation fund in the crypto ecosystem, and building a knowledge-base about crypto.
Crypto Is Now A Big Craze In India
Crypto has now become a big craze in India. In fact, the new asset class has become so popular that even teenagers are investing their pocket money over it. It is really surprising to see such trend in a country where saving and investments have not been so popular in youths.
To attract more youths to its platform, CoinSwitch Kuber has roped in famous Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh as its first ever brand ambassador. The move is aimed to connect with millennials and Gen-Z users by featuring Ranveer Singh in its ‘Kuch Toh Badlega’ campaign.
Commenting on this, Ashish Singhal, Co-founder & CEO, CoinSwitch Kuber, said:
“We are excited to have Ranveer Singh join us as our brand ambassador. Our aim is to make crypto accessible to billions in India while making it as simple as ordering food online.”
India’s first crypto unicorn CoinDCX recently roped in Bollywood super star Amitabh Bachchan as its brand ambassador to promote its trading platform as well as raise awareness about cryptocurrency in India. In fact, the most successful actor of Indian cinema Mr. Bachchan has also planned to launch his own NFTs including some of the most unique and exclusive artworks surrounding his identity by November this year, media reports recently revealed.
India is experiencing exponential growth in cryptocurrency investment and trading. According to blockchain data platform Chainalysis, the total investments in digital assets in India is currently valued at over US$ 6.6 billion. The crypto market intelligence firm revealed that it was just US$923 million in April 2020. Tech savvy youths, easy access to crypto investment platforms like CoinSwitch, WazirX, and CoinDCX, and recent positive announcements from Indian government can be attributed to such phenomenal growth.
Read Also: India Takes A Unique Approach To Regulate Cryptocurrency
In terms of User base, several Indian crypto exchanges have now more users than the largest stockbroker in India. The largest stockbroker Zerodha has a little over 7 million users, of which almost 5 million are active users, while Coinswitch Kuber has now a userbase of 11 million, and WazirX has a userbase of 8.5 million.
Read Also: Top 10 Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Exchanges in India
Meanwhile, India’s financial regulators are considering classifying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as an asset class. As per latest announcements from finance ministry, crypto tokens will be categorized based on their applications, and not all the crypto will be allowed. The bill is yet to be finalized.