Bitpanda, a European cryptocurrency trading platform, has raised $263 million U.S. in a new round of funding that values the company at $4.1 billion U.S.
That’s more than three times the $1.2 billion U.S. Bitpanda was worth in its last private financing round just five months ago. The latest cash injection brings the company’s total raised to nearly $500 million U.S.
The latest investment was led by Valar Ventures, the venture capital firm co-founded by U.S. technology billionaire Peter Thiel. It’s the third time Valar has backed Bitpanda since its first major funding round last September.
Founded in 2014, Bitpanda is a Vienna-based brokerage firm that lets people buy and sell cryptocurrencies and precious metals. The company also began testing a service this year that lets users trade stocks around the clock.
Bitpanda is one of many online brokers in Europe attracting growing interest from investors. Bitpanda’s competitors include Revolut, Trade Republic and eToro.
One way Bitpanda hopes to differentiate itself from rivals is by licensing its technology to banks and fintech companies. The company said several big firms were already implementing the system and will be able to offer cryptocurrency and stock trading in coming months.
Bitpanda makes its money from the spread between what someone is willing to pay for an asset and the price at which that asset is sold. The start-up has been profitable for five years, a rarity in fintech, with many venture-backed companies in the space racking up heavy losses.
Bitpanda didn’t provide a breakdown of how much money it makes each year, but said its revenues are on track to rise sevenfold in 2021. The platform now has more than three million users. The firm only operates in Europe, with offices in Vienna, Berlin, London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan and Krakow.
