Coinbase acquires Bengaluru-based deep tech startup Agara

The momentum in the cryptocurrency space continues to grow. Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange giant from the US, has acquired Agara, an AI-powered support platform with operations in India and the US, said Coinbase on Tuesday.

This is the first acquisition for Coinbase which has been hiring people in India to expand in the region. 

“Through this acquisition, we’ll be able to provide our customers with new personalized, intelligent, and real-time support options. In addition to Agara’s technology, the Agara team brings deep expertise in ML and NLP to Coinbase and will augment our existing product, engineering, and data teams,” said Coinbase in a blog post.

According to Coinbase, the company has increased its support staff headcount by 5x in the past few months and it will also deliver 24/7 phone support and live messaging by the end of the year.

While the companies did not disclose the transaction details, media reports suggest that Coinbase will pay around $40 million for the acquisition.

Founded by Abhimanyu Singh, Pankaj Gupta and Arjun Maheswaran, Agara automates end-to-end customer support operations for even the most complex kinds of queries. Its voice agents offer a tailored and holistic solution, fielding customer calls, engaging in troubleshooting processes and providing a service extremely similar to human agents.

The four-year-old startup raised around $7.5 million to date from the likes of Blume Ventures, RTP Global and UTEC.

Coinbase has been eyeing expansion in India for the last 6-8 months. In April, the company hired Pankaj Gupta as the vice president of engineering and site lead for India. Gupta was previously Google Pay’s engineering lead in India and the Asia Pacific.

The Nasdaq-listed firm is also the backer of two crypto unicorns of India: CoinSwitch Kuber and  CoinDCX.