Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin says it has raised $10 million in a fresh investment to upgrade its platform infrastructure, expand the product lineup and prepare for “the next bull run.”
The Seychelles-based firm revealed that the capital injection was led by quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG). The recent funding shows investors’ enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies even after a crash that erased two thirds of bitcoin’s value over the past few months.
KuCoin is the fifth-largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume, competing with the likes of Coinbase, Binance and Kraken.
KuCoin, which is said to have over 20 million users in 200 countries, plans to utilize the new funds to finance its new projects such as the NFT platform. The exchange also established a $100 Million Creators Fund to support early-stage NFT projects and operates a venture capital arm through which it makes investments in Web3 technologies.
Despite the current crypto winter, KuCoin says it still has 300 job openings to be filled. In addition, KuCoin and SIG will jointly support crypto startups through incubation, investment, and consultation, especially the projects built on the KCC chain.
KuCoin handled $1.1B in 24h transactions
KuCoin’s new funding comes during a challenging time for the cryptocurrency industry. After a meteoritic surge that drove all coins to record highs in late 2021, digital tokens have tumbled due to various economic and regulators factors. However, at least until now, the decline in prices hasn’t stopped the flow of money into crypto firms.
Commenting on the news, KuCoin Chief Executive Officer Johnny Lyu, said: “KuCoin has been through a few crypto cycles, and we are committed to building no matter what. We are delighted to announce that we have found another partner with the same vision and values. The support of SIG will solidify our leading role as a centralized exchange and facilitate our ecosystem expansion in the decentralized Web 3.0 world.”
KuCoin, established in September 2017, is one of the popular cryptocurrency exchanges, having handled almost $1.1 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions over the last 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.com.
The recent funding comes barely two month after KuCoin raised $150 million in a pre-Series B financing round, valuing the company at $10 billion. That was the first investment into KuCoin since the four-year-old platform pulled in $20 million in 2018 at a $100 million valuation.
