Crypto startup Vauld raises money from Peter Thiel fund, others

Representative image.

Vauld, which wants to be a bank for cryptocurrency holders, said on July 29 that it has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Valar Ventures- a firm co-founded by PayPal founder Peter Thiel along with other investors.

Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, CMT Digital,  Gumi Cryptos, Robert Leshner and Cadenza Capital also invested in the round.

Vauld, founded in 2018 by Darshan Bathija and Sanju Kurian, helps crypto investors earn and borrow crypto, including borrowing against your own assets and having no cap on daily withdrawals. 

"We have seen great momentum with Vauld and we attribute it to both our technology as well as our customer support—that’s our strongest suit and it’s proven because when customers start using Vauld, they don’t leave,” said co-founder and CEO Bathija.

Singapore-based Vauld will use the money raised to grow its customers internationally and expand its retail banking and investing platform.

Valar’s focus is on transformative financial services companies. "What cemented the deal is Vauld’s global positioning and ambitions and the vision Darshan and his team have for building their customers’ wealth through crypto. We look forward to Vauld benefiting from our team’s expertise in understanding how to build a global business across emerging tech hubs in Europe, Asia, and North America,” said  Andrew McCormack of Valar Ventures.  

Vauld’s funding also comes at a time when crypto asset prices have rebounded slightly after being down for the last few months. Until May this year, bitcoin and other assets saw their prices rise like never before, but in May bitcoin’s price halved from $60,000 to $30,000 a coin. In the last week, it rebounded to about $40,000 but trading volumes are still far lower than peak levels from a few months ago.