By Medha Singh
(Reuters) – Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin raised $150 million in a series B funding round led by Jump Crypto, the company said on Tuesday, giving it a valuation of $10 billion.
KuCoin, the fifth largest crypto exchange according to data firm CoinMarketCap, has 10 million users in 207 countries. It plans to use the money to expand its presence in Web3, a utopian version of world wide web that is decentralized and is based on blockchain technology.
The Seychelles-based company offers trading services plans to use the funds to expand to crypto wallets, digital finance, non-fungible tokens as well as to build its online community of crypto users.
The latest funding round includes investment from Circle Ventures, IDG Capital and Matric Partners.
Private investments in crypto firms have exploded in 2022 despite a slump in bitcoin and other assets this year.
Venture capital investment in such projects totaled $10 billion globally in the first quarter of 2022, the largest quarterly sum ever and more than double the level seen in the same period a year ago, according to data from Pitchbook.
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(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
