A new investment record has recently been set, after the Bangalore-based Bitcoin firm known by the name of Unocoin, has managed to raise a total of $1.5 million in their first pre Series-A investment round, which is a record for all digital currency-related investment rounds in India and its surroundings until now.
There are however, some controversies regarding this project. As the founder wants to find a way to scale bitcoin to the masses and facilitate adoption throughout India, many believe that this isn’t an achievable goal, considering the fact that over 50% of India’s population is currently unbanked.
This is mostly so due to the weak financial infrastructure present in the country. Yet, Bitcoin adoption is skyrocketing in the region. Judging by the fact that India is the country with the world’s second largest population, this isn’t truly a surprise. Unocoin has smartly positioned itself in such a way that it can capture the expected growth that will soon be provided by this market, as it evolves from an unbanked flock of people to banked individuals.
In a recent press statement, Simon Dixon, who has invested millions of pounds in digital currency has mentioned that: “In India, 95% of the people do not have credit cards and 50% are unbanked due to the country’s poor financial and payments infrastructure. And, we believe Bitcoin has a role to play in India in the long term.”
Not only this, but Keiser, the founder of StartJOIN, who will soon be collaborating with Unocoin in India, has stated that: “Unocoin is leading the charge when it comes to bringing bitcoin to India. We are excited to be working with this world-class team and look forward to supporting their continued growth trajectory.”
Recent reports indicate that the money has been invested by numerous companies, such as Mumbai angels, ah! Ventures, the Digital Currency Group, Blume Ventures, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, the FoundersClub and many more.
To put things better into perspective, Unocoin is a firm which so far, has worked on selling, buying and storing bitcoin for Indian customers throughout the country, and had an average amount of 100,000 users and 30 employees. Things are about to change, as the company is entering a new era, and will likely increase its business operation to work harder on bitcoin adoption throughout the country.
Not many people are aware of this, but the firm’s round of investment isn’t the first one. In fact, two years ago, it had managed to raise around $250,000 in seed funding. The $1.5 million raised from investors will now be used for product development, geographical expansion and team expansion.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, what do you personally think about Unocoin raising $1.5 million from investors? Will these funds help them facilitate bitcoin growth in India? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.