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Bengaluru-based crypto startup, Flint, has raised a $5.1 million seed round led by Sequoia Capital India and GFC. Coinbase Ventures, Hashed, IOSG, Better Capital, Antler India and MSA Capital also participated in the round as part of 11 institutional investors.
The company didn't disclose the valuation at which it has raised the funding.
Over 60 angel investors across the globe also participated in this funding round. The angel investors included Kunal Shah, founder, CRED; Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder, Polygon; Kunal Bahl, co-founder, Snapdeal via Titan Capital; comedian Tanmay Bhat, Abhishek Nag, director, Netflix; and Marc Bhargava, Strategy, Coinbase, among others.
As per the company, the fresh capital will accelerate bringing early users on board, enhance the product based on early feedback, and hire for senior positions across engineering, design and product functions.
Flint also plans to allocate a significant portion of the funding to strengthen legal and risk functions, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory norms, while also going above and beyond market standards to reduce business risk.
Commenting on fund raising, Anshu Agrawal, co-founder of Flint, said, “We are at the tip of the iceberg and the opportunity that Web3 provides for the world is massive. As a brand, we simply intend to demystify crypto, provide easy-to-use products, and introduce a billion people to our inevitable future, ensuring Web3 becomes a part of our everyday lives."
Founded in October 2021, the company currently offers stable income opportunities where users can earn up to 13% per annum on their deposited funds.
The company doesn’t offer volatile crypto assets such as bitcoin or ethereum, but only deals with stable cryptocurrencies or stablecoins such as tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), etc.
A stablecoin is a digital currency that is linked to an underlying asset such as a national currency such as the US dollar or a precious metal such as gold.
The fund raise by the company has come at a time when regulations are not clear for cryptocurrencies, plus the overall market has witnessed a massive correction.
For example, the world’s biggest crypto asset, bitcoin, has slumped more than 50% from its all-time high of $69,044.77.
The company is taking a UX first approach for the retail users and building easy on-ramps.
The early access was available to more than 25,000 customers who can invest via simple rupee deposits, which get converted to stable cryptocurrencies generating returns.
“Just the way billions of people were on-boarded onto the internet in the last decade, billions of users will be on boarded onto web3.0 in the next few years. We believe Anshu, Akshit and the Flint team bring the right background in building consumer products as well as the web3 DNA that can enable massive distribution, and offer best-in-class and easy-to-understand financial products to its users," Aakash Kapoor, VP, Sequoia India.
