Indonesian crypto exchange Pintu raised USD 35 million in a Series A+ funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from existing investors, including Alameda Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Intudo Ventures, and Pantera Capital. The fresh funding came just three months after the startup raised USD 6 million in May.
Established in April 2020, Pintu’s platform lets users trade, analyze, and manage cryptocurrencies. It features comprehensive trading tools, a simple user interface and user experience, and security features. The company also runs an educational program called Pintu Academy.
Pintu’s exchange facilitates trading for 16 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, and it plans to add more coins, including NFT tokens that are currently in demand. Pintu is in the process of rolling out new features and services, such as Pintu Earn, which yields interest payouts for a variety of crypto assets and e-wallet integration for easier deposits and withdrawals.
Pintu is registered and licensed by the Ministry of Trade’s Futures Exchange Supervisory Board (Bappebti) and the Ministry of Communications and Information (Kominfo). Despite its volatility, crypto assets are now the most popular investment class in the country. There were nearly 6.6 million crypto investors in Indonesia as of June 2021, according to the Ministry of Trade, higher than the country’s 5.6 million stock investors in the same period. During the first half of this year, downloads for Pintu’s app grew 3.5 times, and the platform saw a 400% increase in the number of active traders.
“We built Pintu with the belief that crypto is an asset class and community that will provide the means for Indonesians to overcome the barriers of financial inclusion,” said Pintu co-founder and CEO Jeth Sutoyo. “Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, but only 1% to 2% of Indonesians have exposure to crypto.”
Decentralized finance has gained traction in Indonesia. Meanwhile, the country’s central bank is conducting research and assessing the possible deployment of a digital rupiah.
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