Exclusive: CoinSwitch Kuber in talks to acquire mutual fund platform Symbl

Despite regulatory uncertainty, crypto startups in India have managed to raise funds, and this year two exchanges: CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber entered the coveted club of unicorns. With their rising scale, the two companies are also evaluating entering the mutual and equity investment space.

CoinSwitch Kuber had already hired former Paytm senior vice president (SVP) Krishna Hegde to spearhead stock trading and mutual fund business. Now, the Singapore registered company is close to acquiring a mutual fund platform.

According to two of Entrackr’s sources, CoinSwitch Kuber is in late-stage talks to acquire mutual fund platform Symbl. “The terms of the deal have been almost finalised and if nothing goes wrong at the last moment, the deal will be announced in a few weeks from now,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity.

Sources further said the deal will be worth Rs 35-40 crore.

Symbl claims to ​​reduce the complexity of direct equity investing and minimise the cost of fund management by providing customised and cost-effective index investment options. The company had raised Rs 5 crore in an angel round in March.

Two dozen angels including Albinder Dhindsa, AL Trust, Rachit Dayal, Rahul Gupta and Amit Gupta participated in the round, regulatory filings show. According to Fintrackr’s estimates, it was valued at around Rs 20 crore in its maiden round.

Queries sent to Symbl and CoinSwitch chief executive didn’t elicit any immediate response. We will update the story in case they do.

Symbl will be the first acquisition for CoinSwitch Kuber which had traded up to the unicorn status in October after a $260 million Series C financing from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Coinbase Ventures, and others. In April, Tiger Global had led a $25 million Series B round in the company. 

In 2021 so far, the company has mopped up close to $300 million across three institutional rounds.

Meanwhile, crypto startups await India’s markets regulator SEBI to give a green light to crypto exchanges to distribute mutual funds. 

“Crypto startups are in a grey zone from a regulatory point of view. And until there is some clarity on where cryptocurrencies stand regulatorily, these crypto exchanges may not get permission to sell mutual funds,” said the second source who also wished not to be named.