Bitcoin frenzy: Mumbai-based Koinex raises funding from Beenext & Pantera Capital

LocalBitcoins | This peer-to-peer exchange allows people from different countries to exchange their local currencies to bitcoins. Users post advertisements on the exchange stating their exchange rate and preferred payment method for buying or selling bitcoins. By replying to these advertisements, a trade is opened and escrow protection is automatically activated. Escrow protects both buyer and seller, by keeping the bitcoins safe until the payment is done and the seller releases bitcoins to the buyer. Bitcoins are placed in LocalBitcoins web wallet from where one can pay for their bitcoin purchases directly. However, investors need to be aware of scams as they are dealing directly with other people unlike other stock-like exchanges or centralized bitcoin trading sites.

Mumbai based Koinex, a multi-cryptocurrency exchange, and the trading platform has received an undisclosed amount of funding from US-based Pantera Capital and Singapore-based Beenext.

Koinex was founded in 2017 by IIT graduates (class of 2016) Rahul Raj and Rakesh Yadav along with BITS Pilani graduate Aditya Naik (class of 2014).

The pre-Series A funding has been led by Dirk van Quaquebeke, Managing Partner of Beenext and Daniel Morehead, founder, and CEO of Pantera Capital.

Beenext has earlier invested in Indian companies such as Droom, Citrus Pay, Voonik, and KartRocket.

Koinex plans to channel the fresh capital infusion towards scaling its technology infrastructure, further enhancing the product, and expanding the team.

“With funding and mentorship from names as prestigious as Pantera Capital and Beenext, we are excited to scale our secure and compliant technology, and build an advanced financial ecosystem for investors to work with, while making buying, storing, and trading of digital assets as seamless as possible,” said Rahul Raj, Co-founder and CEO, Koinex.

Koinex was founded in August 2017, it facilitates the real-time trading of multiple crypto-currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin on a single web platform.

Dirk van Quaquebeke, Managing Partner, Beenext said, “Since India is a tremendous market because of its size and large remittance corridor, we believe Koinex is extremely well positioned to be a pioneering force in the cryptocurrency space in the country.”

“Pantera Capital is staunchly committed to investing in local cryptocurrency exchanges across the globe because any regional market thrives on local leadership," said Daniel Morehead, founder, and CEO of Pantera Capital.

Koinex offers a highly competitive tiered trade fee schedule for high-frequency trading, while its digital infrastructure enables transactions, allowing instant deposits and withdrawals.

The company plans to launch its mobile app, and consequently bring one million new users on to the platform over the next few months.