Vienna-based Bitpanda's valuation has shot up to $4.1 billion, three
times its value during the crypto broker's last private funding round in
March.
Vienna-based cryptocurrency broker Bitpanda has closed its third major private financing round led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.
Raising
$263 million, and drawing in new investments from British billionaire
hedge fund manager Alan Howard and REDO Ventures, the company is now
valued at $4.1 billion. That’s three times its last valuation at $1.2 billion for its $170 million raise in March of this year.
Bitpanda
has now raised close to $500 million through various private financing
rounds, counting three-time backer Valar Ventures alongside repeat
investors that include LeadBlock Partners and Jump Capital. Since 2014,
the company’s offerings have centered on cryptocurrency and precious
metals brokerage. The platform is currently trialing a stock trading
service that would be live 24/7.
In an interview with CNBC,
Bitpanda co-founder and CEO Eric Demuth said that the stock offering
would likely be ready by the end of this year. Having cemented its
popularity among crypto users, the new service would bring the platform
onto the same terrain as highly successful stock trading apps like
Robinhood, whose profile — as well as trading volumes and, arguably,
notoriety — shot up during the Gamestop saga earlier this year.
One
distinguishing feature of Bitpanda is its profitability; Demuth has
said the company has been profitable for the past five years and, while
not disclosing its exact annual revenues to reporters, is ostensibly on
track to increase them sevenfold in 2021. With over three million users
at present, still significantly lower than rivals like Robinhood and
Revolut, that sets it apart from both. The latter’s IPO filing revealed a
$1.4 billion quarterly loss early this year, and Revolut lost over $230
million in 2020 — up 57% from 2019.
In its March 2021 raise, Bitpanda had sealed investment from Robinhood-backer DST Global, which has not, at the time of writing, been publicly confirmed as a participant in this latest round.
Related: Crypto-friendly app Robinhood loses 8% in public Nasdaq debut
Bitpanda
operates solely in Europe, with plans to expand to new markets like
France, Spain, Italy and Portugal using the new funding. The company
does not have imminent plans to go public but Demuth has spoken
positively of Wise’s recent direct listing on the London Stock Exchange,
which followed a listing method first used by Spotify on the New York
Stock Exchange in 2018. He has ruled out an IPO via a merger with a SPAC
— the route used by stablecoin issuer Circle for its NYSE public listing later this year.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/thiel-s-valar-ventures-leads-3rd-raise-for-bitpanda-at-4-1b-valuation
