Good news for founders and investors in leading South African cryptocurrency exchange, Luno. Digital Currency Group (DCG), a global enterprise that builds, buys, and invests in blockchain companies, has announced that it has acquired the company, 7 years after it was started.
“The past seven years have been an incredibly exciting journey for Luno — helping millions of our customers get access to crypto for the first time,” said Luno founder Marcus Swanepoel. “DCG has been an integral part of the Luno story during all of this time, and we’ve been fully aligned on our vision and culture since day one. Having the full backing of DCG just as we’re experiencing such a pivotal moment of growth in the industry is not just an exciting and important milestone for Luno, but more importantly it will significantly accelerate our ability to reach our goal to help upgrade 1 billion people to a better financial system by 2030.”
Here Is What You Need To Know
- Nothing is however changing in the leadership team of the company as Luno’s team will remain intact and Swanepoel will lead acquisition efforts in his role as CEO. DCG enables its subsidiaries to operate as independent companies, providing leadership, partnership, and investment capital to help scale the businesses.
- The New York-based DCG, through the acquisition, will also be making a significant financial commitment to help Luno expand globally, both in geographies where Luno currently operates and beyond.
- The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
- Throughout its seven years in existence, Luno has been backed by global tech giants such as the Naspers Group, Balderton Capital amongst others.
Why DCG Placed Its Bet On Luno Through The Acquisition
A lot of factors are into play, including that Luno seems to have achieved a lot within the period it has been in existence. It also seems that DCG, a previous investor in Luno in its seed round in 2014, has been immensely impressed by the company’s performance.
Based in London and with regional hubs in Singapore and Cape Town, Luno has grown significantly in recent years, with nearly 400 employees and more than five million global customers spanning over 40 countries, all factors obviously attractive to any investor.
“We are proud to have supported Luno as an early investor, and we recognize a shared commitment to building mission-driven companies that can help transform traditional financial services and improve economic freedom for people all over the world,” said DCG Founder and CEO Barry Silbert. “Luno is a high growth, global business and there is a massive opportunity to expand organically and through acquisitions.”
“We have been extremely impressed with Marcus and the Luno team since we made our initial investment,” added Silbert. “Marcus understands our culture and appreciates how well Luno fits into the DCG family. He is a focused, high integrity leader and exactly the kind of person we want running one of our companies at this critical moment when the crypto industry is at an inflection point.”
DCG is an investment firm that has backed more than 160 blockchain companies around the world. In addition to its venture portfolio, DCG is the parent company of several wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Grayscale Investments (the world’s largest digital currency asset manager), Genesis (a leading digital asset prime brokerage), CoinDesk (the preeminent media and events company in the industry), and the recently-launched Foundry, which provides institutional expertise, capital, and market intelligence to bitcoin miners and manufacturers.
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A Look At What Luno Does
Founded in 2013 by co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel and Chief Technology Officer, Timothy Stranex, Luno has become a digital asset powerhouse in many emerging and frontier markets, providing digital asset education, knowledge, and investment tools for individuals in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Luno has also helped broaden the global crypto investment community and the company has seen record growth of its customer base in 2020. The company is a leading exchange in several countries that have the highest percentage of cryptocurrency ownership, including South Africa (third-highest percentage of its citizens owning digital currencies), Nigeria (fifth-highest), Indonesia (sixth-highest), and Malaysia (tenth-highest).1
Luno maintains regional offices in Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, Jakarta, and Johannesburg, and will continue to focus on the existing geographies where it operates across Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Luno team has also developed an aggressive road map for future growth and will ultimately compete with financial services firms globally. Luno is actively hiring for positions all over the world.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer