A16z, Coinbase Back CoinSwitch Kuber in $260M Funding Round

India has its second cryptocurrency unicorn (a startup with a market value of at least $1 billion) after Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Coinbase Ventures backed CoinSwitch Kuber in a $260 million funding round that valued the exchange at $1.9 billion.

• Also participating in the round were existing investors Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global, CoinSwitch Kuber announced Wednesday.
• The exchange has set a goal of onboarding 50 million Indians with the launch of new crypto products and services such as lending and staking.
• CoinSwitch Kuber has demonstrated that it can “deliver an investment platform for the masses in India,” according to David George, a general partner at a16z.
• The exchange’s unicorn status follows the $1 billion valuation attained by rival crypto exchange CoinDCX in August in a $90 million funding round that also included contribution from Coinbase.
• CoinSwitch Kuber was valued at $500 million in a $25 million Series B funding round in April, which came three months after a $15 million Series A round.

Read more: Crypto Industry Could Add $184B of Economic Value to India by 2030: NASSCOM