CoinSwitch Kuber, India’s fastest growing cryptocurrency investment platform announced that it has closed $15 million (Rs. 109 Cr.) in its Series A funding.
The round is led by leading global fintech and crypto investor Ribbit Capital, and San-Francisco based crypto focused investment firm, Paradigm. The deal brings together two leading global investors in support of the CoinSwitch Kuber team and what they have managed to achieve in the space in a very short time. The company will use the funds to enhance product, security, compliance and tech capabilities, and build a formidable brand with a view to be the leading cryptocurrency investment platform for Indian users. The round also saw participation from the company’s existing investor Sequoia Capital India and prominent angel investor CRED’s Kunal Shah.
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CoinSwitch was founded in 2017 by Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni and Vimal Sagar Tiwari and as a global aggregator of cryptocurrency exchanges. The company launched its India exclusive crypto platform, CoinSwitch Kuber in June 2020 to simplify crypto investments for Indian retail investors. Within six months of launch, over one million users have already flocked to the platform owing to the ease of usage, security and the large collection of cryptocurrencies. The company expects to have 10 million users on the platform in the next one year.
Ashish Singhal, CEO and Co-founder, CoinSwitch Kuber said, “We are thrilled to have the world’s most focused fin-tech and crypto investors, Ribbit and Paradigm join us as partners in our journey to make cryptocurrency investments accessible to retail investors in India. The continued backing of our existing investors led by Sequoia Capital India is a testimony to the tremendous impact we have had on the crypto ecosystem in the country within a short time of our launch. We aim to double down on the Indian market, and are targeting a ten times growth in our user base by the end of the year. To this end, we will invest in product and technology and also run a slew of awareness initiatives to educate investors about the potential of crypto as an emerging asset class.”
CoinSwitch’s latest funding comes at a time when the Indian market is witnessing an unprecedented growth in cryptocurrency trading and investments. The global spike in interest in cryptocurrencies has rubbed off on the Indian investors too, making India the second biggest bitcoin nation in Asia after China, and the sixth biggest in the world, after the United States, Nigeria, China, Canada and the United Kingdom. According to reports, Indian cryptocurrency trading volumes have grown 500% since March 2020, signalling the country’s massive appetite for cryptocurrencies, thereby attracting attention from global investors like Paradigm and Ribbit Capital.
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CoinSwitch is Ribbit Capital’s first investment in a cryptocurrency platform in India. Founded in 2012 by Meyer (Micky) Malka, Ribbit Capital is counted among the world’s foremost investors focused on fintech. It was one of the earliest investment firms to invest in cryptocurrency companies, and its portfolio includes some of the most prominent cryptocurrency and blockchain projects including Coinbase, Chainalysis, and Diem. The fund has also invested in some of India’s leading startups such as BharatPe, Capital Float, Cred, epifi, Groww, Moneyview, Razorpay, and Zest.
Nick Shalek, General Partner at Ribbit Capital said, “We are very excited to invest in CoinSwitch, which we believe can become a generational technology brand in India. Our mandate is to invest in the best entrepreneurs and technologists driving change in financial services, and Ashish, Vimal, and Govind fit the bill. We backed the team not only because of their track-record of product and technology innovation, but also because of their resolute commitment to serving their customers.”
CoinSwitch is Paradigm’s first investment in India. Paradigm, a leading crypto-focused investment firm based in San Francisco, California was founded in 2018 by Matt Huang, a former Sequoia partner, and Fred Ehrsam, who co-founded Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. The firm invests in crypto assets and businesses from the earliest stages of idea formation through maturity. Some of Paradigm’s other investments include Uniswap, Yield Protocol, Fireblocks and Compound.
Matt Huang, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Paradigm and Arjun Balaji, Investment Partner at Paradigm said, “We are thrilled to partner with CoinSwitch in their mission to bring simple crypto investing to the Indian market. While the crypto landscape in India remains nascent, it has been an exciting past 12 months and over time we believe India could be one of the largest global crypto markets. Ashish and the CoinSwitch team have shown tremendous resilience and strong execution in a challenging market, giving us confidence in their potential to build a market leader in the years to come.”
