Despite crypto crash, KuCoin raises $150M at $10B valuation
Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin says it has raised $150 million in a pre-Series B financing round, valuing the company at $10 billion.
The Seychelles-based firm revealed that the fresh capital injection was led by Jump Crypto with participation form Circle Ventures, IDG Capital and Matrix Partners. That was the first investment into KuCoin since the four-year-old platform pulled in $20 million in 2018 at a $100 million valuation.
The recent funding shows investors’ enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies even after a crash that erased half of bitcoin’s value over the past two months.
KuCoin is the fifth-largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume, competing with the likes of Coinbase, Binance and Kraken. The decent valuation puts it on par with those of more established competitors.
KuCoin, which is said to have over 18 million users in 200 countries, plans to utilize the new funds to finance its new projects such as the upcoming NFT platform. The exchange also established a $100 Million Creators Fund to support early-stage NFT projects and operates a venture capital arm through which it makes investments in Web3 technologies.
KuCoin handled $3.35B in 24h crypto transactions
KuCoin’s new funding comes during a challenging time for the cryptocurrency industry. After a meteoritic surge that drove all coins to record highs in late 2021, digital tokens have tumbled due to various economic and regulators factors. However, at least until now, the decline in prices hasn’t stopped the flow of money into crypto firms.
Commenting on the news, KuCoin Chief Executive Officer Johnny Lyu, said: “The vote of confidence from prominent investors, including Jump Crypto and Circle Ventures, solidifies our vision that one day everyone will be with crypto. KuCoin is built for all classes of investors, and we believe these new investors and partners will contribute to making KuCoin synonymous with a reliable and trustworthy gateway into crypto space.”
“We are pleased to support the company as it continues to grow and expand its offerings in futures and margin trading, lending, staking and passive yield generation to support the growth of Web 3.0 and the crypto markets,” added Tak Fujishima, head of Asia at Jump Crypto.
KuCoin, established in September 2017, is one of the popular cryptocurrency exchanges, having handled almost $3.35 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions over the last 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.com.
