European crypto company Bitpanda raises $170M

Austria-based cryptocurrency firm Bitpanda has closed a $170 million funding round to further the firm's international growth.

The latest Series B funding round was led by Valar Ventures — a venture capital firm backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel — Bitpanda announced on Tuesday, and featured partners from Yuri Milner’s investment firm DST Global, which is known as a major investor in United States-based crypto-friendly stock trading app Robinhood. While DST is a new investor in Bitpanda, Valar previously led a $52 million Series A round in September 2020.

According to Bitpanda, the new funding round has made the firm “Austria’s first unicorn” by raising the company’s valuation to $1.2 billion.

With the new funding, Bitpanda is looking to further expand its services across Europe and plans to set up tech hubs and offices in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Paris and Berlin. In addition to its Austria headquarters, Bitpanda has already expanded into France, Spain, Turkey, Italy and Poland. “Now it’s about growing internationally, adding to our existing products and services, and bringing our financial solutions to new audiences,” Bitpanda CEO and co-founder Eric Demuth told Cointelegraph.

Apart from its global expansion ambitions, Bitpanda is also planning to introduce some new products on its platform in the near future, including the trading of fractional shares and exchange-traded funds.

Founded in 2014, Bitpanda originally focused on investment and trading services for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) but has now expanded to more investment options. “We are shifting to become a pan-investment platform, not just a crypto broker,” Demuth said.

According to the announcement, the recent Series B round was signed last week and is currently pending approval by the Austrian Financial Market Authority, or FMA. The funding news comes shortly after Bitpanda upgraded its local license, gaining the status of FMA-approved investment firm in early March.