VALR secures a $50 million Series B fund to expand across Africa

VALR has raised a $50 million Series B fund in an equity funding round.

The round was led by Pantera Capital with participation from Alameda Research, Cadenza, CMT Digital, Coinbase Ventures, Distributed Global, GSR, Third Prime, Avon Ventures, a venture capital fund affiliated with the parent company of Fidelity Investments, along with existing investors Bittrex and 4Di Capital, and others.

According to the cryptocurrency exchange startup, the raise has secured a $240 million valuation and arguably the largest crypto funding round in Africa at the time of this report. VALR has seen its valuation grow by more than 10X since it raised its $3.4 million Series A round of funding in July 2020.

Launched in 2019, VALR offers its customers the ability to safely buy, sell and store Bitcoin and 60 other cryptocurrencies — the widest selection of any platform in Africa — at some of the lowest fees in the world. VALR has processed over $7.5 billion in trading volume since its launch and now serves over 250,000 retail customers and 500 institutional clients from across the globe.

“Society’s financial tools should unite us, not divide us. That’s why I’m very excited that 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,” says Farzam Ehsani, VALR CEO and co-founder.

With this investment, the South Africa-based startup will expand across Africa and into other emerging markets such as India, and to bring more products and services to its growing base of global customers. VALR is also hiring extensively across all areas of its team.

“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,” Ehsani added.

As part of its growth strategy, VALR plans to onboard many more institutions from the traditional financial system, including the largest banks, insurers and hedge funds, to assist them with the infrastructure needed to enter the crypto asset market.

“Pantera is extremely excited to be leading the Series B round for VALR, as we believe that Africa’s future is bright for the adoption of cryptocurrencies for both asset diversification and payments,” says Paul Veradittakit, Partner at Pantera Capital. “VALR brings an amazing product and service to onboard both retail customers and institutions.”