Tim Draper. Source: Yahoo
Unocoin is one of the earliest exchanges to enter the Indian cryptocurrency arena in 2013. And now the crypto trading platform has received funding from billionaire and bitcoin bull Tim Draper. The Series A round which raised $5 million was led by Draper Associates. 2020 Ventures and crypto-focused VC firm XBTO Ventures also participated in the investment round.
According to the latest reports, vocal bitcoin advocate Tim Draper and his venture capital firm Draper Associates has helped Indian cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin secure an investment of $5 million. 2020 Ventures and crypto funding focused VC firm XBTO ventures also joined the Series A funding round.
This is not the first overseas funding for Unocoin, as the Indian crypto trading startup has previously raised more than $3 million from the likes of Barry Silbert, founder of the Digital Currency Group, Adam Draper, and India based VC Blume Ventures.
Earlier in March this year, India’s Supreme Court had quashed the draconian ban set by RBI on cryptocurrency exchanges. Following the historic judgment, Unocoin observed a surge in bitcoin/crypto trading traffic on its platform. And was planning to capitalize on the opportunity. Commenting on the investment, Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO of Unocoin said:
We’ve seen a dramatic increase of crypto adoption in India following the lifting of an industry-wide ban by the Reserve Bank of India enacted in 2018. Customer growth rates have surged by more than 10X in the month the Supreme Court verdict was announced, accompanied by a 5X increase in trading volume in subsequent months. The funding will help us scale our business further and give us a strong financial foothold to expand our platform’s offerings.
As per updates on the utilization of funds, Unocoin plans to ‘to build a stronger technology team, and enhance its product infrastructure and offerings’. Apart from this, the cryptocurrency exchange also intends to expand into the DeFi space with its native set of protocols.
Also, the team plans to implement a new AI-based chatbot system to improve customer support. Tim Draper is already well-known for his investments in companies like Tesla, Skype, and Twitter. Speaking about his latest investment, he said:
We were delighted to hear the verdict by the Indian Supreme Court, and we had been tracking Unocoin, the leader in India for Bitcoin for years. We are so thrilled that the stars aligned and we could finally back Unocoin. Every Indian should have a Bitcoin account with Unocoin. It is a great way to do business in a currency that doesn’t devalue over time.
As CryptoPotato reported earlier, Tim Draper wholeheartedly supported the removal of the banking ban by India’s Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court of India and the Indian government have shown that the best ideas ultimately prevail.”- he said on the news.
It is important to note that Draper was initially skeptical of investing in the Indian cryptocurrency market. But on his recent visit to the country, he had shown renewed investment interest. According to his statement then, he ‘met several Bitcoin and crypto startups’. He also hoped to ‘be able to fund a number of them’.
Featured image courtesy of Asia Tech Daily