Just eight months into 2021, and India has already seen 22 startups turn unicorns. CoinDCX became India’s first cryptocurrency unicorn after the company raised ₹ 6.70 billion ($90 million) from investors led by Facebook Inc. co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group, even as local authorities push back against crypto assets. The latest funding round values the firm at $1.1 billion, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Sumit Gupta said in an interview. Other investors include existing partners Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one, and Jump Capital.
CoinDCX co-founder & CEO said, “We will be joining hands or enter into partnerships with key fintech players to expand crypto investor base, set up a research & development (R&D) facility, strengthening the policy conversations through public discourse, working with the government to introduce favorable regulations, education, and ramping up the hiring initiatives.”
“The funds raised will be allocated to expand (bring more Indians to crypto and 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,” he added.
Founded in 2018, CoinDCX has onboarded more than 3.5 million users. In the coming months, it will be launching the CoinDCX Prime initiative—its latest offering in the high net worth individuals (HNI) and enterprise space. It ranks among the top four crypto exchanges in India, the others being WazirX, CoinSwitch Kuber, and Zebpay, reported Mint.
CoinDCX’s unicorn status also comes at a time when the crypto industry in India has been facing a period of regulatory uncertainty. To begin with, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned banks from supporting cryptocurrency transactions in April 2018, preventing crypto exchanges, including WazirX and CoinDCX, from temporarily taking rupee deposits from users. The Supreme Court struck down the Reserve Bank’s ban in March 2020, once again boosting the morale of crypto companies.
Despite the uncertainty, venture capital interest in crypto and blockchain firms in India has only risen. Data from VCCEdge shows that 13 deals worth more than $176.89 million have been completed in 2021 to date, significantly more than the 10 deals worth over $44 million in the previous year.
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