Crypto exchange CoinDCX raises $135 Mn at over $2 Bn valuation

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has raised $135 million in its Series D round led by Pantera and Steadview with participation from prominent investors like Kingsway, DraperDragon, Republic, and Kindred. Existing investors including B Capital Group, Coinbase, Polychain, and Cadenza also invested in this round.

While the company didn’t disclose its valuation in this round. Sources estimate its valuation in the range of over $2 billion. In August last year, it had raised $90 million in Series C funding at a valuation of $1.1 billion and became the first Indian company to attain a unicorn tag from the crypto space.

The company has raised close to $245 million to date.

CoinDCX has launched several educational initiatives and campaigns working closely with universities and through their DCXLearn platform. The company plans to start an Innovation Center to accelerate Web3 and Blockchain adoption in India and aims to nurture local talent through its various outreach programs and strategic investments.

As per the company, it will triple its talent pool to over 1,000 employees by the end of 2022.

Three-year-old CoinDCX is a cryptocurrency exchange and liquidity aggregator having operations across the world. The company has instant deposit and withdrawal facilities with a suite of crypto-based financial products and services.

CoinDCX claims that its user base has grown to 12 million from 3.5 million in August last year and counts WazirX, ZebPay and CoinSwitch Kuber as its direct competitors.

The fresh round for CoinDCX has come amidst ongoing uncertainty over the regulation of crypto platforms in India. While cryptocurrencies are taxed at 30% in India, the local government has refused to comment on their legality.

Earlier this month, several crypto exchanges including Coinbase, CoinSwitch Kuber, WazirX and CoinDCX had stopped offering UPI as a payment method for cryptocurrency transactions after the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)put out a statement saying that it was “not aware” of this happening.

In March, 11 cryptocurrency trading exchanges were fined by the Indian government for evading GST dues amounting to a total of over Rs 81 crore.