Inside India’s largest crypto exchange

On Wednesday, CoinSwitch Kuber announced it has raised $260 million in a Series C round from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Coinbase Ventures, and existing investors Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India, and Tiger Global.

This marks the first-ever investment by a16z in an Indian startup. CoinSwitch Kuber also becomes the second Indian crypto startup to enter the unicorn club after CoinDCX in August 2021. 

In 2021, the Indian startup ecosystem has seen the entry of 30 new unicorns so far, surpassing projections and expectations. 

CoinSwitch Kuber, started in 2017 by Ashish Singhal (CEO), Govind Soni (CTO), and Vimal Sagar (COO), is also India’s largest crypto platform — with over 11 million registered users.

Speaking to YourStory on how it all began, Ashish says, 

“Govind, Vimal, and I are all computer science engineers...We always loved tech and tried our hands at various innovations, participating and winning several hackathons. The idea for CoinSwitch came from one such hackathon.”

The goal was to make crypto easy to understand and accessible for the Indian masses. After the Supreme Court overturned RBI’s ban on crypto transactions, the startup launched CoinSwitch Kuber in June 2020. And there has been no looking back since. 

Going forward, the founders look to turn CoinSwitch Kuber into a complete investment destination and platform with crypto and traditional financial instruments available for retail as well as institutional investors. Click here to see the full video.

The Interview

TalentSprint, in association with IIM-C, is offering the Artificial Intelligence-Powered Marketing course. Taught over six months, the course offers live interactive classes, real-life case studies, capstone projects, a campus visit, and more. 

Shridhar K, Chief Business Officer at TalentSprint, and Aritro Bhattacharyya, Senior Director, Sales and Marketing at TalentSprint, discuss how AI can optimise marketing campaigns, TalentSprint’s partnership with IIM-C, AI-driven marketing, and different facets of the course.

Editor’s Pick: 100X Entrepreneur Podcast

Amrit Acharya, Co-founder and CEO of Zetwerk, a B2B manufacturing unicorn, reveals how it recorded about Rs 900 crore in revenue for the year 2020-2021 and closed at a revenue of about Rs 300 crore the year before, marking almost 3X growth amid the pandemic.

He says that Zetwerk is an India-focussed business, but amid the pandemic, it recorded a lot of interest from clients outside India, especially from the US. Read more. 

Startup Spotlight

Enabling restaurants and F&B brands to ride the digital wave

The COVID-19 pandemic proved that running an F&B brand today is far beyond just managing a kitchen and a restaurant. Brands need a strong presence on social media and a robust digital infrastructure to gain deeper customer insights.

Realising a business opportunity in these gaps, brothers Aayush and Akshat Khandpur, along with Prem Lokesh and Shobhit Marwah launched FUDR in late-2019. Read more.

News & Updates

• In an exclusive conversation with YourStory, BharatPe Co-founder Ashneer Grover talks about the launch of postpe, the fintech’s Buy Now Pay Later product, and why the fintech unicorn is working on a model unique to India.

• Foodtech startup Swiggy said its board has decided to institute a "one-of-its-kind programme" to enable consistent wealth creation for its employees through two distinct liquidity events in the next two years. 

• Mensa Brands has invested in 10 digital-first brands across fashion, home, and beauty. It aims to partner and invest in D2C brands and scale them exponentially. Over the next three years, Mensa aims to acquire over 50 brands across — home, garden, apparel, personal care, and beauty.

• The Good Glamm Group, previously MyGlamm, has acquired mom and baby D2C brand The Moms Co to further strengthen its growth across South Asia. While the details of the deal are undisclosed, sources directly aware of the development have confirmed the amount of the acquisition to be around Rs 500 crore.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“There needs to be an amalgamation between crypto and traditional financial instruments of investment. The younger generation, especially, will want to diversify beyond crypto. So, we aim to become an investment platform for the masses and simplify every use case.” 

— Ashish Singhal, CEO, CoinSwitch Kuber

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