Backpack Raises $17 Million in Series A Funding

Backpack, a cryptocurrency trading platform, recently secured $17 million in Series A funding led by Placeholder VC and other investors.

The cryptocurrency trading platform and non-custodial wallet provider Backpack has raised $17 million in a Series A funding round. Jump Crypto, Wintermute, Hashed, Robot Ventures, Selini Capital, Amber Group, and a number of angel investors were among those that participated in the financing effort, which was spearheaded by Placeholder VC.

A news statement states that Backpack has been valued at $120 million throughout the financing process. Total funding for the company, once known as Coral, came to $37 million in 2022, with $20 million coming from a seed round spearheaded by the now-defunct FTX.

According to Backpack, the new funding is essential for the company’s growth into other jurisdictions so it can fulfill the licensing and regulatory standards of its target markets.

Established by Armani Ferrante and Tristan Yver, two former research associates of the now-defunct FTX/Alameda, the UAE-based Backpack appears to be approaching the provision of cryptocurrency exchange services with more caution as it readies itself to join the US market in a few states.

In comparison to even just a year or two ago, “creating an exchange today is very different,” Ferrante remarked. I believe the bars are far higher now, particularly in light of the FTX disaster.

Can Sun, one of Backpack’s co-founders, was an attorney for FTX. After the FTX disaster, Sun claims, the co-founders had a tough time because many of the people and organizations they had approached decided to cut ties. Fortunately, a turnaround has occurred.

We’ve been to meetings where our peers have deemed it too hazardous to collaborate with us due to our background at FTX, Sun told Bloomberg. “Since then, we haven’t seen that nearly as often.”