Crypto Lender Babel Finance Lands Unicorn Status With $80M Series B

Babel Finance reached unicorn status after raising $80 million in a funding round that valued the crypto financial services provider at $2 billion.

• The leading investors were China-focused venture capital fund Jeneration Capital, U.S. crypto investment firm 10T Holdings, and existing shareholders Dragonfly Capital and BAI Capital, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. Circle Ventures and other family offices based in Asia-Pacific also participated in the Series B round, the press release said. A unicorn is a startup with a valuation of over $1 billion.
• The firm provides financial services for bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and stablecoins, to a "select clientele of about 500 customers," according to the press release.
• At the end of 2021, Babel Finance had an outstanding loan balance of over $3 billion, up from $2 billion the previous February. It averaged $800 million in monthly derivatives trading volume and had structured and traded over $20 billion in options products.
• Babel will use the funds to fuel its global expansion and continue compliance efforts, Del Wang, co-founder and CEO of the firm, told CoinDesk in an email.
• “Babel Finance has opened up a market with high barriers to entry," said 10T CEO and Managing Partner Dan Tapiero. "[It] has built a laudable reputation as a highly specialized and trusted crypto financial institution."
• Asked about how the market downturn affects their operations, Wang said that the fundraising demonstrates investor confidence in the firm. Since institutional investors are mostly long-term investors, "a bear market may present opportunities for them."
• The firm started in 2018 as a lender to crypto miners in China. It has since pivoted toward institutional investors in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Read more: Babel Finance Sets Up Shop in Singapore