CoinSwitch Kuber’s valuation hits $500 mn after Tiger’s bet

Cryptocurrency investment platform CoinSwitch Kuber on Thursday said it has raised $25 million ( ₹181 crore) from Tiger Global Management at a valuation of more than $500 million, in the American hedge fund’s first investment in an Indian crypto company.

A person aware of the matter said that the company was valued at $100 million in January when it had raised $15 million in a Series A round from global fintech investor Ribbit Capital, San Francisco-based crypto-focused investment firm Paradigm and Sequoia Capital India.

Four-year-old CoinSwitch is a global aggregator of cryptocurrency exchanges, and launched its Indian platform CoinSwitch Kuber in June 2020 to simplify crypto investments for Indian retail investors.

With the new Series B fund infusion, it plans to sign up 10 million users by the end of this year, hire top talent and build awareness among retail investors for cryptocurrencies in India.

“This is a monumental time for the crypto industry in India and globally, as institutional adoption as well as retail adoption for this asset class is increasing exponentially. We are thrilled to have Tiger Global, the most prolific backers of the Indian startup story, as investors and mentors in our journey,”said Ashish Singhal, chief executive and co-founder, CoinSwitch Kuber. “This investment round brings us at par with some of the most sought-after cryptocurrency companies in the world and sets us up for the long run.”

CoinSwitch Kuber says its Indian user base has grown 350% since January, crossing 4.5 million users and $5 billion in transaction volume in March.

Singhal added that the company will set aside a substantial sum towards brand building and increasing awareness around cryptocurrencies as an emerging asset class. CoinSwitch is also expected to ramp up hiring across technology, operations, marketing, product and compliance teams.

CoinSwitch Kuber claims it signed up 1 million users within the first 200 days of launch, clocking investments of more than ₹2,000 crore. The platform allows users to buy and sell across more than 100 cryptocurrencies using Indian rupees.

The latest funding round comes at a time when global technology giants such as Tesla, Mastercard and PayPal have brought cryptocurrency support to their platforms.

Earlier this month, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Coinbase, went public on Nasdaq, at a valuation of almost $100 billion. Coinbase also plans to set up operations in India and will hire technology talent from the country.

The government has been considering a complete ban on cryptocurrencies, with the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, expected to be tabled in the next Parliament session.

However, in an interview with CNBC TV18 last month, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had clarified that the government is still formulating its opinion on cryptocurrency and will take a “calibrated” position. Sitharaman said that “negotiations and discussions” are going on with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on how to regulate cryptocurrencies in India.

During the 2021 budget session in Parliament, the government had also announced that it will “create a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency” in the country.