Coinbase is to invest in Zipmex, a South Asian crypto exchange, as part of its latest fundraising round. The two crypto companies had acquisition discussions earlier in the year and settled on strategic investment, with Coinbase signing a term sheet – making a commitment to the investment in March.
Zipmex has been recently vying for investors in an attempt to raise about $40 million at a valuation of $400 million. Word is that Babel Finance may lead the funding round. Zipmex’s spokesperson said the crypto exchange is in process of raising Series B+. The platform is in talks with a range of investors. The spokesperson highlighted that Zipmex, which was founded by Marcus Lim in 2018, hasn’t finalized lead investors or valuation.
The crypto exchange has already drawn $52 million in Series B funding. It was spread across investments of $41 million and $11 million in September 2021 and March 2022, respectively. Zipmex’s existing investors are TNB Aura, B Capital, V Ventures, MindWorks Capital, Bank of Ayudhya’s Krungsri Finnovate, and Master Ad. Proceeds from the respective rounds were to be utilized in boosting Zipmex’s presence across Southeast Asia. In December 2021, the crypto exchange accounted for about a quarter of the turnover of the digital assets market in Thailand.
As for Coinbase, its currently in cash conservation mode following a landmark direct listing on Nasdaq in April 2021. It announced last week that it would extend a hiring freeze and rescind some job offers in an effort to adjust to a tough macro environment and highly volatile crypto markets.
