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Pantera Leads CoinDCX Funding Round at $2.2 Billion Valuation

India’s CoinDCX raises $135 million, both founders dilute 6%.

Pantera Leads CoinDCX Funding Round at $2.2 Billion Valuation
Fiber optic cables feed into a switch. (Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg)

India’s crypto unicorn CoinDCX is raising $135 million from venture capital funds led by Pantera Capital and Steadview Capital Management LLC., according to a company statement. 

The latest round values the company at $2.15 billion, making the Coinbase Ventures-backed exchange the highest valued crypto firm in India, said co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Sumit Gupta. Other investors in the financing include Kingsway, DraperDragon, Republic, and Kindred along with existing backers B Capital Group, Coinbase, Polychain and Cadenza, it said in the statement.

The funding comes even as Indian payment service providers have stopped processing crypto transactions via the Unified Payments Interface, the country’s biggest online retail payments platform, leading to a plunge in trading volumes.

“The kind of confidence such high-quality funds have shown in the company in spite of these challenges is actually very promising,” said Gupta, referring to the recent issues on processing payments via the UPI platform.

CoinDCX, which became the first $1 billion firm in the Indian crypto space last year, will use the funds to more than double its workforce to 1,000 people this year, add more products, spread awareness regarding virtual digital assets and support other startups, Gupta said. 

The latest round of funding led to a 6% dilution in stake by Gupta and fellow co-founder Neeraj Khandelwal after which they will hold about 30% in the company, while 60% is with investors, Gupta said. Prior to the latest round CoinDCX had raised $90 million in October.

Undeterred by the ongoing payment hurdles, steep taxation and regulatory uncertainty, CoinDCX which has 12.5 million users, will continue to invest in India, Gupta said.  

“We’ll continue to double-down in India, we’ll continue to build more use cases and go deeper into crypto,” he said.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.