By Adedapo Adesanya
Crypto exchange, KuCoin, has raised a $150 million pre-Series B round at a valuation of $10 billion, with plans to use the new round to boost its service expansion to new and emerging technologies.
The round, which was led by Jump Crypto, also saw the participation of multiple investment funds, including Circle Ventures, IDG Capital, and Matrix Partners.
KuCoin noted that it would use the funds to expand its product offering, going beyond the current centralized trading services and increasing its presence in the broader Web 3 market.
This will see it make more investments such as building out cryptocurrency wallets, decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) platforms through its investment arms like KuCoin Labs and KuCoin Ventures.
Speaking on this, Mr said Tak Fujishima, Head of Asia at Jump Crypto, in a statement, said, “We are pleased to support the company as it continues to grow and expand its offerings in futures and margin trading, lending, staking, and passive yield generation to support the growth of Web 3.0 and the crypto markets.”
On his part, the CEO of the exchange, Mr Johnny Lyu added, “As the Web 3 industry is growing quickly, we are seeing a massive need for new solutions and talents.
“KuCoin is glad to contribute financial, technological and human resources to accelerate the research and adoption of Web 3.0 technologies.”
Some of the funds would also go towards the development of infrastructure and applications on KCC, the public chain built by KuCoin’s community members.
KuCoin is the fifth largest crypto exchange on the market by trading volume. In November of 2018, KuCoin secured $20 million in Round A funding.
Launched in September 2017, KuCoin is a global cryptocurrency exchange for over 700 digital assets. It currently provides Spot trading, Margin trading, P2P fiat trading, Futures trading, Staking, and Lending to its 18 million users in 207 countries and regions around the world.
In 2022, the Ascent named KuCoin the Best Crypto Exchange and app for enthusiasts.
