BitPanda, the Austria-based cryptocurrency firm, has raised a $170 million funding round to further the firm’s international growth.
It has been reported that the latest Series B funding round was led by Valar Ventures, a venture capital firm backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, and featured partners from Yuri Milner’s investment firm DST Global, which is known as a major investor in United States-based crypto-friendly stock trading app Robinhood.
However, while DST is a new investor in BitPanda, Valar previously led a $52 million Series A round in September 2020.
The report said that the new funding round has made the firm “Austria’s first unicorn” by raising the company’s valuation to $1.2 billion.
The Austria-based crypto firm, @Bitpanda, just became the countries first unicorn. It is now valued at $1.2 billion after its latest $170 million Series B funding round. https://t.co/pZ4G6uQwTc — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) March 17, 2021
With the new funding, BitPanda is looking to further expand its services across Europe and plans to set up tech hubs and offices in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Paris, and Berlin. In addition to its Austria headquarters, BitPanda has already expanded into France, Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Poland.
Eric Demuth, the CEO and co-founder of BitPanda, said:
“Now it’s about growing internationally, adding to our existing products and services, and bringing our financial solutions to new audiences.”
Likewise, apart from its global expansion ambitions, BitPanda is also planning to introduce some new products on its platform in the near future, including the trading of fractional shares and exchange-traded funds. Founded in 2014, BitPanda originally focused on investment and trading services for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) but has now expanded to more investment options.
Thus, Demuth said:
“We are shifting to become a pan-investment platform, not just a crypto broker.”
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Investor Place