According to TechCrunch, CoinSwitch Kuber, an Indian crypto exchange, is currently in the advanced stages of negotiations to raise funding at as high as $2 billion.
If there is a deal, CoinSwitch Kuber would be the second crypto startup to achieve unicorn status in the second largest internet market in the world.
In April, the startup, four years old, was valued at more than $500 million in its Series B financing round.
It is unclear who is positioned to lead the round. TechCrunch was informed by several people that the firm had been in contact with Andreessen Horowitz as well as Coinbase over recent weeks.
Sources said that a deal could be finalized within the month. According to one source, the deal is worth more than $100 million. The usual caveats apply: the terms of the deal could change or negotiations may fail to result in a deal.
The startup declined comment. Coinbase and A16z did not respond Monday to a request to comment. Last week, Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global did not respond to a request.
These investment talks are coming at a time CoinSwitch Kuber's userbase has nearly doubled in the last month, despite local authorities pushing back against crypto assets. According to App Annie, a mobile insight platform that provides data on the industry, App Annie, India's most popular app, had more than 7 million users last month. This is an increase of approximately 4 million in April, which was reported by TechCrunch.
B Capital invested in CoinDCX, which is a competitor to CoinSwitch Kuber and has 3.5 million users. The $90 million round valued CoinDCX at approximately $1.1 billion.
Since several years, Indian policymakers have been discussing the issue of digital currency in the South Asian market. The Reserve Bank of India in India has expressed concern about virtual currency privates, but it plans to test programs of its first digital currency starting December.
This year, more than 20 Indian startups have been named unicorns, compared to 11 last year. The increase in investment by high-profile investors like Tiger Global, SoftBank, and Falcon Edge has accelerated the pace of their investments into the South Asian market. TechCrunch last week reported that Tiger Global engaged Apna to finance a new round of financing that would value the 21-month old Indian company at more than $1 billion.
