VALR, a South African cryptocurrency exchange, said today that it has secured $50 million (about R750 million) in Africa’s largest-ever cryptocurrency fundraising phase. The firm is now worth $240 million (R3.7 billion), according to reports.
VALR is a digital asset marketplace based in Johannesburg, South Africa, that enables clients to purchase, sell, store, and trade Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in a secure and simple manner. It has a large number of digital assets. The company’s purpose is to assist in the development of a financial system that respects humanity’s unity.
Pantera Capital led the firm’s oversubscribed Series B equity funding round, which included Alameda Research, Cadenza, CMT Digital, Coinbase Ventures, Distributed Global, GSR, Third Prime, Avon Ventures, a venture capital fund affiliated with Fidelity Investments’ parent company, as well as existing investors Bittrex and 4Di Capital and others.
VALR allows its consumer to order, trade, and hold Bitcoin and 60 other cryptocurrencies in a secure environment—the most of any network in Africa—at some of the lowest costs in the world. Since its introduction in 2019, VALR has operated over $7.5 billion (R115 billion) in trading volume and now serves over 250,000 individual users and 500 institutional clients from around the world.
Farzam Ehsani, VALR CEO and co-founder said,
“We already help VALR’s customers enter this new world of crypto from the traditional financial system using their USD or ZAR, and I’m very excited that this round of funding will allow us to serve so many more across Africa and the world.”
VALR series A fund raise in 2020
In July of 2020, the company raised $3.4 million in a Series A round. VALR had planned to grow into emerging markets across South Africa and introduce services such as derivatives trading and financing at the time. The company’s value has increased tenfold since then.
Furthermore, the funds raised will be utilized to develop across Africa and into other burgeoning areas like India, as well as to provide more products and services to the company’s growing worldwide customer base. The firm is also expanding its employment efforts across the board.