Bitpanda has secured $263 million in new funding, valuing the company at $4.1 billion.
The most recent cash infusion takes the company’s overall funding to roughly $500 million. Valar Ventures, the venture capital firm co-founded by US internet tycoon Peter Thiel, spearheaded the investment. Valar has supported Bitpanda three times since its first significant fundraising round disclosed in September.
What is Bitpanda?
Bitpanda, launched in 2014, is a brokerage business based in Vienna that allows customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies and precious metals. This year, the company began testing a program to enable customers to trade stocks around the clock.
Bitpanda is one of many European online brokers receiving increasing investor interest. This is thanks in part to the “meme stock” trading frenzy. Following the lead of a prominent Reddit community, retail traders poured into undervalued equities such as GameStop and AMC.
The company aims to distinguish itself from competitors by licensing its technology to banks and fintech firms. It declined to disclose any clients but stated that numerous large corporations are already deploying the system and will be able to offer crypto and stock trading within a few months.
Demuth stated that the company had been profitable for five years. Profitability is uncommon in fintech, with many venture-backed firms incurring significant losses. Revolut, recently valued at $33 billion, lost £167.8 million ($232.3 million) in 2020, a 57 percent increase from the previous year. Demuth claims that several fintech businesses are raising funds at exorbitant valuations due to “hype” and “fear of losing out.”
Bitpanda did not disclose a breakdown of its annual revenue but stated that payments were on course to increase sevenfold by 2021. There are already over 3 million users on the platform.
Crypto
This year has been a wild trip for digital currency investors, with the prices of bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies reaching all-time highs in April and May. The threat of regulation has recently been the most significant impediment for cryptocurrency. China has tightened down on speculative investments in digital assets, and the recently passed US infrastructure bill has a provision that crypto proponents warn could hurt the industry.
Demuth claims that Europe has been slower to regulate the crypto business than its worldwide counterparts. However, he is pleased by new EU regulations aimed at putting the sector under regulatory control.
SPAC
Fintech has just given birth to many multibillion-dollar public companies, with Coinbase, Robinhood, and Affirm going public this year. Wise, the British fintech formerly known as TransferWise, went public in Europe in a rare straight listing in London.
Bitpanda’s CEO categorically denied a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company or SPAC. SPACs are corporations that list to bring another company public. Circle, a digital currency firm based in the United States, announced plans to go public in a $4.5 billion SPAC offering last month.
COMMENTS