Coinbase will no longer acquire Zipmex, but will instead be part of a larger Series B+ investor pool to the Asia-Pacific exchange.
American crypto exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) recently made a strategic investment in leading Asia-Pacific digital assets exchange Zipmex. This development is a follow-up to earlier discussions between the duo about Coinbase acquiring Zipmex. However, the American crypto exchange decided against a complete acquisition, instead opting for part investment through a larger fundraiser by Zipmex. Coinbase also signed a term sheet committing to the investment back in March.
Zipmex Looks to Combine Coinbase Investment with Those of Other Potential Investors
Zipmex is currently working on a Series B+ funding round that could give the company a $400 million valuation. Furthermore, the crypto exchange has been making the rounds with potential investors in recent weeks in a bid to raise $40 million. A spokesperson for Zipmex, which has resident operations in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia, explained:
“[Zipmex is] in process of raising Series B+ and are speaking to a range of investors. We have not finalized lead investors or valuation. We cannot comment on market speculation or rumors.”
A source with inside knowledge of the development suggests that crypto financial services provider Babel Finance may spearhead the deal. However, a spokesperson for Babel refrained from confirming or denying the development.
Previous Series B Funding Rounds
Zipmex already has a $52 million investment haul in Series B funding spread across two funding round exercises. Last September, the crypto exchange generated $41m from a fundraiser led by B Capital, TNB Aura, and V Ventures. Other participating investors from the round were the Bank of Ayudhya’s VC arm Krungsri Finnovate, media and advertising companies Plan B Media, and Master Ad. Furthermore, rounding out the investors’ group was Hong Kong’s MindWorks Capital and US-based Jump Capital. The latter served as a returning investor who led Zipmex’s Series A round in January 2021.
Following the conclusion of its September 2021 funding round, Zipmex stated that it would channel the fresh capital towards several objectives. Some of these include developing its technological infrastructure and engaging in new business partnerships. In addition, the Asia-Pacific digital assets exchange also wants to attract new talent and diversify its product offerings. Two representatives from participating investors, B Capital and TNB Aura, would join Zipmex’s board.
Zipmex’s second Series B funding exercise came in March this year, where the crypto exchange raised $11 million more. The investor pool featured some new and returning backers from the previous round in September. They were B Capital, TNB Aura, Bank of Ayudhya’s Krungsri Finnovate, Master Ad, and MindWorks Capital, to name a few.
Zipmex intimated that it intends to use the additional capital to aggressively expand into newer Southeast Asian markets such as Vietnam. The timeline given for this stretches to the end of 2022.
Zipmex currently makes up approximately one-quarter of Thailand’s digital asset market’s total revenue. The exchange was founded by Marcus Lim in 2018, who also serves as its CEO.
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