The cryptocurrency exchange Bitpanda has just raised $170 million as part of its Series B. This funding round catapults the company’s valuation to $1.2 billion and makes it the first unicorn in the world. ‘Austria.
First Austrian Unicorn
A FinTech startup based in Vienna, Austria, Bitpanda has just raised an additional $170 million (€142.5 million) in a Series B funding round.
Bitpanda achieves the feat of becoming Austria’s first unicorn, the country’s first startup valued at over $1 billion. Also, Bitpanda becomes the second unicorn in the cryptocurrency field in Europe after Bitfury Group, a company that develops blockchain solutions for businesses, governments, and individuals.
This new fundraising for the Austrian startup was led by Valar Ventures, an investment fund co-founded by entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Bitpanda has also received support from DST Global, the fund of Russian multibillionaire Yuri Milner.
These two funds already support many FinTech and cryptocurrency startups, such as Robinhood or BlockFi, which very recently raised $350 million. Just six months ago, Valar Ventures also led Bitpanda’s previous funding round. Valued at $52 million, which was the most extensive Series A fundraising event in Europe for 2020.
“To become the first unicorn of Austria is a great achievement, and I am incredibly proud of the team for all that we have achieved over the past years. This is further confirmation of our vision of giving everyone better access and greater control over their financial future, whatever their financial means,” added the co-CEO and co-founder by Bitpanda, Eric Demuth.
Bitpanda is to date the only company not based in France to have obtained registration with the Autorité des marchés financiers as a Service Provider on Digital Assets (PSAN).
Impressive growth of the platform
Over the past 6 months, Bitpanda has benefited greatly from the gradual adoption of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin’s bull run. Since its previous fundraiser, Bitpanda has nearly doubled its user base from 1.3 million to 2 million. The company’s team now has more than 340 employees, down from 160 less than a year ago.
In an interview with TechCrunch media, Eric Demuth emphasizes that the platform has changed course and no longer wishes to play the role of a broker for cryptocurrencies but to offer a full range of investment products.
Indeed, Bitpanda is doing well by offering its users to trade both cryptocurrencies and many other assets, such as precious metals and large companies’ shares. The platform also integrates a Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) feature, making it possible to invest in cryptocurrencies at regular intervals automatically.
“So far, Bitpanda has focused on building a platform to target investors in Europe, a largely untapped market in this case. In the European Union, we probably have less than 10% of the population that owns shares. Our growth goes hand in hand with this,” he added.
Highly appreciated by the crypto-community and offering an intuitive experience to its users, Bitpanda can already be considered one of the leading platforms in its sector in Europe. The Austrian unicorn proves this with its exponential growth.
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