VALR, a South African crypto exchange, has raised $500 million in a Series B equity funding round which represents the highest one, so far, on the African continent.
Thanks to this funding round, the valuation of VALR has grown to $240 million which is a 10x increase compared to its Series A round from July 2020 when it raised $3.4 million.
The top names for this round were VC Pantera Capital, Alameda Research, and Coinbase Ventures.
VALR declared that it processed more than $7.5 billion in trading volume from 250,000 retail customers and 500 global institutional users since 2019. As of now, it is recording 420 BTC ($18 million) in trading volume as a result of 69 trading pairs.
The money coming from this round will go towards expanding its existing operations into emerging African markets and India, hire more people, and debuting more products.
Farzam Ehsani, the CEO and co-founder of VALR, declared that:
“Society’s financial tools should unite us, not divide us. VALR is helping to build a financial system that recognizes the oneness of the human race. There is no longer any room for doubt regarding the impact crypto assets are having on our global financial system.”
Ehsani also wants to increase the number of institutional customers with the likes of banks and insurance providers:
“Crypto assets will become more and more pivotal to all our lives. VALR is here to help bridge our customers from the old financial system to the new.”