Indian crypto exchange platform Defy raises US$5.5 million in its seed round

Defy, India-based social crypto exchange platform has raised US$5.5 million in a seed funding round led by Goat VC, Goodwater Capital, and Jam Fund. The funding round was also joined by Night Ventures, Olive Tree Capital, Gemba Capital, GMO Venture Partners, and existing investor Better Capital.

The fresh fundraise has been done for is Defy’s parent company Walrus, which runs a neo-banking platform. The amount raised will be used by the firm to scale the team across product, engineering, growth, and other verticals.

“Defy is a coming-of-age fintech startup that aims at disrupting the cryptocurrency space in India. Our platform puts the user’s needs at the heart of the conversation. It is an app for crypto enthusiasts in India that embraces a friendly user experience keeping the intimidating crypto lingo at bay,” said Bhagaban Behera, co-founder and CEO of Defy.

Diving Deeper

Founded by Sriharsha Setty, Nakul Kelkar, and Bhagaban Behera, the YC Combinator-backed startup aims to build a social platform around cryptocurrencies by enabling users to create their profile, share their portfolio with friends and followers and can even track their friend’s portfolios. The users can also follow experts for investment strategies.

The startup also educates users with social conversations and gamified content.

Defy is presently available only on Google Play Store and aims to grow to a million users in the next 6 months.

According to the 2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report by blockchain data firm Chainalysis, India ranks sixth globally in crypto adoption “India has a much bigger share of activity taking place on DeFi platforms at 59%, versus 47% for Vietnam and 33% for Pakistan. All three regions grew substantially over the last year. Pakistan experienced the most growth at 711%, just ahead of India at 641%,” said the report, speaking about the Central and Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO region)

“We want to make the process of investing in crypto much more seamless and enjoyable by making it community first,” said Nakul Kelkar, cofounder and COO of Defy.

Real estate investors in India are now moving to invest in crypto. While the prices in the real estate market have remained stagnant for the last couple of years, the crypto market has seen constant growth, keeping ahead of inflation.