CoinDCX: IITian-Founded Exchange is India's First Cryptocurrency Unicorn

CoinDCX became India’s first cryptocurrency unicorn after the exchange raised 6.70 billion rupees ($90 million) from investors led by Facebook Inc. co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group.

The latest funding round values the firm at $1.1 billion, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Sumit Gupta said in an interview Tuesday. Other investors include existing partners Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one, and Jump Capital.

Gupta plans to use part of the funds to double his team in the next six months to about 400 people in India.

“I am pretty sure the industry will be regulated at the right time," Gupta said. “We have chosen to put at stake our money and career as we feel this is going to be a very good wealth generation opportunity for people."

The 30-year-old engineer from the elite Indian Institute of Technology spent several hours daily reading about blockchain and cryptocurrencies before setting up CoinDCX in 2018. Registered in Singapore as Primestack Pte., it aims to expand its user base to 50 million from 3.5 million over the next few years and focus on educating users on crypto and blockchain.

Investments surged after the Supreme Court last year quashed a ban on banks facilitating crypto trades.

“We have a very tech savvy population, good mobile penetration, big base of engineers and developers who can leverage blockchain technology," Gupta said. He believes India will produce more than 100 crypto unicorn start-ups in the next few years once regulation is firmed up.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Scrabbl staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)