By
Steve Muchoki
April 9th, 2024
Rain Financial says that the new funding would aid the provision of crypto access and education to all their supported markets.
Crypto exchange Rain Financial has raised $110 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Paradigm and Kleiner Perkins. Rain, which became the first licensed crypto-asset service provider in the Middle East in 2019, intends to channel the fresh funds toward various objectives. Some of these include seeking licensing in additional countries and expanding its team. Objectives also include growing and strengthening its technological platform. According to Rain’s co-founding team:
“We are very excited about this funding opportunity as it allows us to continue conversations with regulators across the MENA region, Turkey, and Pakistan about the benefits and potential of cryptocurrency.”
In addition, the co-founding team also stated that the fresh capital will support their central mission of providing education and access to digital currencies to all their supported markets.
Rain’s Chief Investing Partners Weigh In
Casey Caruso, an investment partner at investment firm Paradigm, one of the co-leaders of the funding round, weighed in on the development. In a media session, Caruso said:
“We believe Rain is a crucial piece of the puzzle for bringing the Middle East deeper into the new crypto economy. Their emphasis on supporting and educating those new to crypto alongside strong banking and regulatory relationships has helped them build a service people trust. This is just the beginning for Rain, and we’re honored to support their growth.”
Mamoon Hamid, a partner at the fundraiser’s other co-lead investor Kleiner Perkins, also touched on Rain’s latest capital-generating initiative. In Hamid’s own words, “Rain provides fundamental access and an on-ramp to a new paradigm of the Internet. We’re excited to partner with Rain as they grow and expand to serve people in more locations around the world, including Pakistan.”
The funding also represents the first Middle East investment for Kleiner Perkins and Paradigm. This is because Rain is based in the Kingdom of Bahrain, a country in the Persian Gulf.
In addition to the co-leading investor duo, there were many other participating investors in the Series B exercise. They were Coinbase Ventures, Global Founders Capital, MEVP, Cadenza Ventures, JIMCO and CMT Digital.
Rain Financial Past Funding Expedition
Rain previously raised $6 million in a Series A funding led by MEVP in January last year. Furthermore, the crypto exchange’s previous investors also included Coinbase, JIMCO, and Vision Ventures – a corporate venture capital firm from Saudi Arabia.
Founded in 2017, the company can now boast of subsidiaries in Bahrain, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, the crypto asset provider stated that the total value of transactions hosted by its platform now exceeds $1.9 billion. It also says that the number of active users in its data pool since its inception currently tops 185,000. Lastly, Rain currently has a workforce of about 400 people.
Bahrain
Bahrain has been working assiduously on its crypto sector and already seen some gains so far. The country’s central bank approved the establishment of the crypto exchange CoinMENA in January 2021. The initiative complies with the doctrines of the Islamic and Shariah principles.