African Crypto Exchange VALR Raises Million in Series B Funding Round
South African-based cryptocurrency exchange VALR has just raised $50 million valuing the company at $240 million.
The largest funding round ever for an African crypto firm, as the exchange calls it, was led by Pantera Capital with participation from Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures, Cadenza, CMT Digital, Distributed Global, GSR, Third Prime and Avon Ventures, a venture capital fund affiliated with
VALR launched in 2019 and besides 500 institutional clients it has currently over 250,000 retail customers, mostly located in South Africa. The exchange offers trading and custody of Bitcoin and 60 other cryptocurrencies.
VALR CEO and co-founder Farzam Ehsani said in a statement:
“There is no longer any room for doubt regarding the impact crypto assets are having on our global financial system.
We already help VALR’s customers enter this new world of crypto from the traditional financial system using their USD or [South African rand] and I’m very excited that this round of funding will allow us to serve so many more across Africa and the world.”
The exchange plans to expand into more African countries and into emerging markets such as India. The new capital will also be used to bring more products and services to existing customers and to expand the workforce. VALR is furthermore looking to attract traditional financial institutions to aide in setting up their tools to enter the global crypto markets.
Pantera Capital Partner Paul Veradittakit noted on the potential of the African continent:
“We believe that Africa’s future is bright for the adoption of cryptocurrencies for both asset diversification and payments.”
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Source: igaming
