Indonesian Crypto Exchange Pintu Raises $113 Million in Series B Funding

Indonesian cryptocurrency exchange, Pintu has raised $113 million (roughly Rs. 878 crore) in its Series B funding round. Intudo Ventures, Pantera Capital, and Northstar Group all participated in the funding round with previous investor Lightspeed Venture Partners also participating in the round. With the new infusion of capital, the start-up says it plans to launch new features and products as it looks to continue its growth. The firm also plans to invest in the Pintu Academy educational programme to help investors improve their knowledge of crypto, better understand the risks of investing in crypto assets and carry out healthy and sustainable trading and investment practices.

Licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti) under the Ministry of Trade, Pintu caters to Indonesian crypto investors dealing in popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ether.

Bappepti previously highlighted the doubling in the number of Indonesian crypto investors in 2021-2022, to which Jeth Soetoyo, Founder and CEO of Pintu, told TechCrunch, "We believe that crypto adoption in Indonesia is only in its beginning stages, and educating users on the fundamentals is critical to ensuring this growth continues in a healthy way."

Pintu was launched in April 2020 and is one of the top three Indonesian crypto exchanges, according to Soetoyo. The firm doesn't publicly disclose its trading volumes. Its local rivals include Indodax and Tokocrypto.

With fresh capital in hand, Pintu mention in an interview by The Block that the firm plans to keep growing in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, and offer access to new products and services such as decentralised finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). "We need to cement our position in the market. I think pretty much that's where our focus is going into," said Soetoyo.

To that end, Pintu also plans to double its current headcount of around 200 people in the next two years across various functions, said Soetoyo.