Cryptocurrency investing platform Bitpanda has reportedly hit a $1.2bn valuation after it closed a hefty $170m Series B round.
The Austrian FinTech claims to be the first country’s first unicorn, according to a report from TechCrunch.
Valar Ventures acted as the lead investor, with commitments also coming from DST Global.
The company, which operates in Austria, France, Spain, Turkey, Italy and Poland, hopes to expand into more markets this year. Additionally, capital from the round will help Bitpanda offer ETFs and “fractional” trades to its platform, to help more people get involved with investing.
Bitpanda began life as a broker platform for cryptocurrency, but is now positioning itself to be a pan-investment platform, the article said.
It claims to be nearing €100m in revenue for the year so far and could hit between €300m and €400m by the end of the year.
The company’s services, which are available on desktops and mobiles, enables users to buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies. Users have access to 44 investment assets including Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin, Tether, Ethereum and others.
Bitpanda CEO and co-founder Eric Demuth told TechCrunch, “We are profitable, and we have been for four years, but in September we changed strategy and wanted to become ‘the’ investment platform for all of Europe.
“We needed more partners and more capital to get more top talent and this is why we did the Series A last year. Then over the past two months, we talked to our investors and said ‘what do you think, it seems like there is some momentum’. They said ‘we are in. No roadshow needed, we will help you. We will call our contacts and they’ll join, too’.”
Bitpanda closed the Series B hot off the heels of its former round, which it closed in September 2020 on $52m.
This is not the only cryptocurrency-focused FinTech to hit the unicorn status this month. BlockFi, which enables users to build and manage wealth through digital asset investments, recently closed a $350m round that put its valuation at $3bn.
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