Bahrain-headquartered CoinMENA has secured $9.5M in its first seed funding round, from top regional and international investors in the crypto and venture space, in a move to further dominate the MENA market. Investors in the round included BECO Capital, Kenetic, Arab Bank Switzerland, Bunat Ventures, Alameda Research, Rua Growth Fund and Girnas Capital alongside a number of select global angel investors.
Launched in early 2021 by Dina Saman, Talal Tabbaa, and Yazan Barghuthi, CoinMENA was built primarily to address a market gap that existed for easy and safe access to crypto investing. Today, as a fully regulated, onshore crypto exchange licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, CoinMENA has not only successfully bridged the gap but also become the go-to exchange, known for its prompt transactions, a wide variety of assets, excellent customer service, and easy-to-use mobile app. Recently, CoinMENA entered into an agreement with the Dubai World Trade Centre to build the next blockchain and crypto hub in the UAE.
Commenting on the investment, CoinMENA’s co-founders said, “With growing awareness about crypto assets and their transformative potential, appetite from both retail and institutional investors in the MENA region is growing at a rapid pace. Our strategic capital partnerships provide support for our vision to increase the adoption of crypto assets in the region in a regulated and seamless manner. We believe that this is a positive outlook for the crypto assets sector over the coming years both locally and globally.”
Dany Farha, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of BECO Capital, stated, “We had been searching for a while for the combination of the strength of the team and depth of vision that the team at CoinMENA set out to build. We are very excited to partner with this stellar team in delivering financial inclusion, investing, and saving in a crypto native manner, in a hyper-local manner, all whilst being regulated and adhering to the highest levels of governance and compliance for all stakeholders.”
Rani Jabban, Managing Director at Arab Bank (Switzerland) Ltd. commented, “As a pioneering bank in Digital Assets with a strong foothold in the Middle East, we believe that our strategic partnership with CoinMENA will pave the way forward for greater adoption in the region.”
Jehan Chu, Founder of Kenetic, said, “CoinMENA is positioned for explosive growth, and Kenetic is excited to lend our extensive experience and deep network to support them as they provide superior crypto liquidity and user experience in a new era of digital finance throughout the MENA region.”
CoinMENA’s investor BECO Capital is a technology-focused venture capital whose well-known investments include MENA’s three unicorns: Swvl, Kitopi, and Careem. Hong Kong’s Kenetic is known for its investment into BlockFi, a leading crypto lending platform, and Securitize, a leading digital asset securities firm. Arab Bank (Switzerland) Ltd., the sister company of Arab Bank plc, is a recognized Swiss Bank offering Digital Assets services since 2019. Bunat Ventures is a venture builder and VC firm focused on incubating and investing in promising regional startups. Alameda Research, owned by crypto billionaire Sam-Bankman Fried, is a quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm that provides liquidity in cryptocurrency and digital assets markets.
CoinMENA’s sign-up process takes less than a minute and can be performed on its simple, seamless, and highly intuitive mobile app, which is designed for both beginners and professional traders. The exchange’s services are currently available to residents of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, with a view to expanding to other countries in the MENA region.