India has its second cryptocurrency unicorn after Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Coinbase Ventures backed CoinSwitch Kuber in a $260 million funding round that valued the exchange at $1.9 billion.
- Also participating in the round were existing investors Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global, CoinSwitch Kuber announced Wednesday.
- The exchange has set itself the goal of onboarding 50 million Indians with the launch of new crypto products and services such as lending and staking.
- CoinSwitch Kuber has demonstrated the abilities “to deliver an investment platform for the masses in India,” according to David George, general partner at a16z.
- The exchange’s unicorn status follows the $1 billion valuation attained by rival crypto exchange CoinDCX in August in a $90 million funding round that also included contribution from Coinbase.
- CoinSwitch Kuber was valued at $500 million in a $25 million Series B funding round in April, which itself followed just three months after a $15 million Series A round.
Read more: Crypto Industry Could Add $184B of Economic Value to India by 2030: NASSCOM
