Crypto lending platform Vauld raises USD 2 million to expand operations

NEW DELHI: Singapore-based crypto lending platform Vauld on Tuesday said it has raised USD 2 million (about Rs 15 crore) from a clutch of investors to expand operations in India and abroad. The fresh funding round follows USD 500 thousand investment in the company by Singapore's LuneX Ventures and a few India-based angel investors in June.

The investors in this round include Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, CMT digital, Gumi Cryptos Capital, LuneX Ventures, Robert Leshner (Compound Finance CEO) and Tarun Chaitra's Robot Ventures, CoinShares, Better Capital, New Form Capital, Jesus Rodrigues (IntoTheBlock CEO) and others.

"We finally see institutional capital come into India's fintech ecosystem with the expectation of banking integrations that complement existing crypto credit offerings," Vauld CEO Darshan Bathija said in a statement.

Vauld claims to have grown 10 fold after LuneX Ventures' investment in the company. "Hiring is the focus of the hour in the Indian Market," Vauld co-founder and chief technology officer Sanju Sony Kurian said.

The statement said that Vauld plans to double down on engineering talent and opening offices across the country. "We also look forward to closely working with the commodities and banking regulators in the country and ensure our partners are and remain fully compliant through the changing regulatory landscape," Bhatija said.

Vauld is currently tackling the challenge to provide liquidity in new crypto markets (like India) for institutions to buy cryptocurrencies for the first time and generate a yield.