Hong Kong crypto start-up gets $40m Series A
Sequoia Capital China, Tiger Global Management, and Boyu Capital have joined a $40 million Series A round for Hong Kong cryptocurrency services provider Babel Finance.
This is the first crypto industry investment for Boyu’s early-stage vehicle Zoo Capital. Dragonfly Capital, BAI Capital, and Bertelsmann also participated, as did unspecified existing investors. NGC Ventures, ZhenFund, and Lightspeed China Partners made investments of undisclosed sizes in 2018.
Founded in 2018, Babel Finance claims to be among the largest crypto financial service providers globally, offering crypto lending, asset management and prime financing to institutions and qualified investors. There is a strong focus on serving the education needs of mainstream investors, as well as developing awareness and a broader compliance environment for blockchain-based finance.
Babel attributed the Series A to resilient performance through market cycles since its inception. As of February 2021, it has served more than 500 institutional clients, and its crypto lending business had reached an outstanding balance of $2 billion, in cryptocurrency. The company now positions itself as one of the largest crypto derivative players with a monthly trading volume of $8 billion.
“Leveraging resources from our new investors, we will continue to invest heavily in compliance, technology infrastructure and talent acquisition, including channel partnerships and selected M&As,” Yulong Liu, a partner and head of global partnerships at Babel, said in a statement. “With increasing institutional participation, Babel Finance is well positioned to bridge Eastern and Western crypto markets.”
The investment has also been billed as the first foray into Asian crypto finance for Tiger Global, but it follows closely on the US-based firm’s $25 million commitment to India’s CoinSwitch Kuber. Flagging a similar agenda around popularization and education, CoinSwitch operates a cryptocurrency exchange for the local retail market that facilitates investments as small as INR100 ($1.33). The company has also received investment from Sequoia Capital India.
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