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 few 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.
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. Headquartered in the Kingdom of Bahrain, CoinMENA is a crypto-assets trading platform, licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). Through CoinMENA, users can buy, sell, store, and receive crypto assets safely and securely, as well as deposit and withdraw in their local currency.