The funds have been raised over the last two months, Unocoin CEO Sathvik Vishwanath said.
The company series A funding round is targeted at USD 5 million. The company plans to complete this round of funding by the end of this month, he said.
“The funding will help us scale our business further, and give us a strong financial foothold to expand our platform’s offerings.
“We will double down on our efforts to improve our product features and offerings, which will enhance the overall usability and functionality for our customers,” Vishwanath said.
There has been a dramatic increase in adoption of cryptocurrencies in India following the lifting of an industry-wide ban by the Reserve Bank of India enacted in 2018, he said.
Customer growth rates have surged by more than 10x in the month the Supreme Court verdict was announced, accompanied by a 5x increase in trading volume in subsequent months, Vishwanath added.
In March this year, the Supreme Court lifted a two-year old ban by the Reserve Bank of India on trading in cryptocurrencies. It allowed banks and financial institutions from providing services related to cryptocurrencies.
“We were delighted to hear the verdict by the Indian Supreme Court, and we had been tracking Unocoin, the leader in India for bitcoin for years. We are so thrilled that the stars aligned and we could finally back Unocoin,” Draper Associates founder Tim Draper said in the release.
The series A funding round would raise Unocoin’s valuation to USD 20 million, the release said.
Unocoin has previously raised more than USD 3 million from a range of investors, including Digital Currency Group led by Barry Silbert, Boost.vc led by Adam Draper, and India-based VC Blume Ventures.
Established in 2013, Unocoin is the country’s first cryptocurrency exchange. It operates the largest BTC-INR trading platform which enables users in the country to transact and store bitcoin.