“We’re honoured to have this type of support from top investors,” remarked Unocoin co-founder and CEO Sathvik Vishwanath. “We started from my small hometown called Tumkur near Bangalore and our goal from the beginning was to make it easy to get Bitcoin in India. A few years later, we are now headquartered in Bangalore with 30+ employees, serving more than 100,000+ customers across the country and growing exponentially. Given our steep growth rate, we’re looking to serve millions more in the coming years.
“These are exciting times. India has the largest gold, inward remittance, and IT markets in the world, all of which make it a perfect home for Bitcoin and Blockchain technology.”
Co-founder and President of Unocoin Sunny Ray said, “We started this company with the mission to bring Bitcoin to billions. Bitcoin opens up a world that simply wasn’t possible before. When we got started four years ago, we saw a once in a lifetime opportunity to build out a secure platform for people to easily access Bitcoin. Empowered with our current round of financing from many of the best investors in the world, we believe that Unocoin is strategically positioned to reach millions of people in the next few years. In the near future, we believe that Bitcoin has the potential to take marketshare from gold, substantially reduce the cost of remittance and potentially bank the unbanked.”
Ray said Unocoin saw the potential in Bitcoin as far back as 2012. "The question we kept asking ourselves, however, was: ‘How do we bring the benefits of Bitcoin to Indians while systematically protecting against the downside risks?’ In the absence of clarity, we were the first company in India to seek out and work closely with top techno-legal firm in the country, Nishith Desai and Associates. We were also the first Bitcoin company in India to implement a comprehensive compliance and banking like framework to address these challenges,” he said.
 |
| Source: ah! Ventures. From left: Unocoin Co-founders Sunny Ray, President; Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO; Harish BV, COO and Abhinand Kaseti, CMO. |
Blume Ventures, headquartered in Mumbai, India, has played a pivotal role in leading the Unocoin funding round. According to Karthik Reddy, Managing Partner, Blume Ventures, it was the belief in the team at Unocoin that encouraged Blume to participate. Reddy said, "In Sathvik and team, we discovered not only the leading Bitcoin company in India, but a determination to educate all stakeholders, simplify Bitcoin’s usage, and bring another frictionless layer to payments and commerce. We are confident that Unocoin will further alter the landscape and make additional inroads into remittances and e-commerce in India."
DCG, based in New York City in the US, supports Bitcoin and Blockchain companies by leveraging their insights, network, and access to capital with over 80 investments in more than 25 countries. Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group said, “Since making our first investment in Unocoin, it has been tremendous to see the company solidify its position as the leading Bitcoin company in India, as well as emerge as one of the fastest growing companies in DCG’s global portfolio of 80 Bitcoin and Blockchain companies. We are thrilled to welcome this fantastic group of new investors to Unocoin and look forward to many more years of rapid growth and industry leadership by the company.”
Harshad Lahoti, Founder and CEO of ah! Ventures said, “It’s no secret that usage of Bitcoin is picking up rapidly and the concept has seen a warm welcome from freelancers and retailers in India. That’s when Unocoin, a venture backed by a strong team with industry acumen and a rocketing number of users, caught our attention. We believe Unocoin will continue to be one of the strongest players in India’s booming crypto-currency market.”
Lahoti's ah! Ventures is India's first full-spectrum (seed, angel and venture capital) investment network and platform and has to date syndicated close to Rp100 crores in over 30 investments spread across varied industries and domains.
FundersClub is an online venture capitalist (VC) headquartered in San Francisco, US, focused on backing disruptive, technology-enabled startups starting at the seed stage. Its portfolio includes Coinbase and Slack. Boris Silver, Co-Founder and President of FundersClub, said, "We are thrilled to partner with and back Unocoin as a portfolio company in the FundersClub community. We were impressed with the company's vision, team, growth, and large market opportunity. Blockchain technology has tremendous potential and we're excited to support Unocoin as they continue to innovate, lead, and execute in the space."
Addressing the role of Bitcoin in the Indian economy, Simon Dixon, CEO of online investment platform Bank To The Future and Fund Manager of Bitcoin Capital, said, “In India, 95% of the people do not have credit cards and 50% are unbanked due to the country’s poor financial and payments infrastructure. We believe Bitcoin has a role to play in India in the long term and are happy to join the round of the leading Bitcoin company in India.”
Max Keiser, Founder of Bitcoin Capital and StartJOIN added, "Unocoin is leading the charge when it comes to bringing Bitcoin to India. We are excited to be working with this world-class team and look forward to supporting their continued growth trajectory."
No comments:
Post a Comment