Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX has hit a new post-money valuation of $2.15 billion after raising $135 million in a Series D funding round co-led by Steadview and Pantera. Other investors who participated in the funding round include Coinbase Ventures, DraperDragon, Kindred Ventures, Republic Ventures, and Kingsway Ventures.
To date, CoinDCX has raised over $245 million in funding. The crypto exchange plans to use the newly-acquired funds to expand its product offerings, hire more talents as well as take on compliance requirements in India.
CoinDCX which is operating in the world’s second-largest internet market became a unicorn in 2021. The exchange currently boasts of more than 10 million users which spur from its allowing users to buy different tokens for as low as 100 Indian rupees, the equivalent of $1.3. The platform also goes as far as providing margin trading and giving users the option to stake digital assets.
Speaking on the funding round, a rather elated Sumit Gupta, the CEO and a co-founder of CoinDCX said that “What is interesting about this round is the quality of investors who’re coming in and the kind of strong confidence they have shown on the market. It gives a good boost to the overall industry.”
Although India is not an “enemy” to cryptocurrencies, there exist regulations guiding how they and exchanges operating them must abide. CoinDCX’s funding round, therefore, follows the New Delhi crypto taxation rule that seeks to tax 30 percent on crypto income. The rule also includes a 1 percent tax deduction at source for each trade.
CoinDCX has also been affected by these new rules. “We continue to see new users come to the platform, but the growth is not as high as it used to be, say, two months ago,” the exchange’s CEO said. The exchange, however, plans to increase its efforts on compliance. “We will do whatever it takes to give more comfort to the regulators,” CoinDCX’s CEO said.
The exchange currently has 400 people in its workforce and wants to increase it to at least 1,000 by the end of this year. Speaking of how difficult it is to find relevant talent in the crypto space, CoinDCX’s CEO said that “This is a problem, I as a founder, experience a lot. There’s a lack of talent pool. There are limited number of people who have experience of working in the crypto space. How can we built a sort of mechanism, where more and more gain understanding and contribute to the ecosystem.”
CoinDCX is exploring building a venture arm but its isn’t expected to launch in the nearest future. “We have the right infrastructure and distribution, it’s very much on the cards,” the CEO assured.
In a statement, Ravi Mehta, the Managing Director of Steadview said that
“We have long been impressed by CoinDCX’s vision to build a thriving Web3 ecosystem in India and it has been our pleasure to support the team’s execution in building the most customer-centric and feature rich crypto exchange in India following our initial investment in 2021. We are excited to now deepen our investment to fuel the growth of one of the most loved Web3 companies in India.”
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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