Indian Crypto Exchange CoinSwitch Gets $1.91 Billion Valuation

As the demand for digital currencies is surging, another Indian crypto exchange has earned unicorn status. Bengaluru-based CoinSwitch Kuber announced on Wednesday the closure of its Series C funding round, raising more than $260 million.

The funding round was co-led by Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) that took the valuation of the crypto exchange to $1.91 billion. Other prominent venture capital firms, including Sequoia, Paradigm, Ribbit and Tiger Global, also participated in the fresh funding round.

Simplifying Crypto Investment

CoinSwitch was founded in 2017 as an aggregator of global crypto exchanges. It launched its own mobile-based crypto trading platform in June 2020, focusing on simplifying the process of crypto investment.

The exchange said that it will utilize the fresh proceeds in expanding its userbase, targeting to onboard 50 million Indian residents on the platform. The platform currently has 10 million users.

In addition, it will expand its headcount across teams and is considering launching products like crypto lending and staking.

“I believe, simplifying crypto investments for the Indian youth has helped us to stand out,” said Ashish Singhal, CoinSwitch Founder and CEO. “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.”

The exchange has become the second known crypto trading platform in the country to have a valuation of over a billion dollars. Earlier in August, rival CoinDCX gained a valuation of $1.1 billion. Moreover, Binance-owned WazirX operates in India as one of the largest exchange venues, but its valuation is not known to the public.

“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.

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