Bahrain’s crypto platform Rain raises $110 million in the latest funding round

Based in Bahrain, crypto exchange platform Rain has raised $110 million in a Series B funding round, led by global venture capital investors, including Kleiner Perkins, Coinbase Ventures, and Paradigm.

According to the statement issued by Rain, other investors participated in its latest funding round, including Global Founders Capital, MEVP, Cadenza Ventures, and CMT Digital.

Noteworthy, this is not Rain’s first funding round that witnessed Coinbase Ventures’ participation. In January 2021, Coinbase Ventures participated in Rain’s Series A funding round that was led by led by MEVP and raised $6 million. Other backers include Global Founders Capital, MEVP, Cadenza Ventures, JIMCO, and CMT Digital.

Founded in 2017 by Abdullah Almoaiqel, AJ Nelson, Yehia Badawy, and Joseph Dallago, Rain managed to grow, and today it has subsidiaries in various jurisdictions, including Bahrain, Turkey, and the UAE. It now has 400 employees on its payroll, has done more than $1.9 billion worth of transactions, and enlisted more than 185,000 active users.

The crypto-exchange that claims to be the region’s first licensed cryptocurrency firm and one of the largest platforms to buy, sell and store the tokens, said that it will use the fund to expand across other countries and regions, continue to grow the team, as well as enhance its technology with an advanced trading platform.

“Rain provides fundamental access and an on-ramp to a new paradigm of the Internet. We’re excited to partner with Rain as they grow and expand to serve people in more locations around the world, including Pakistan,” Mamoon Hamid, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, said in a statement.

The fund will help the company continue conversations with regulators from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Turkey, and Pakistan about the benefits and potential of cryptocurrency, the confounding team said in a statement. Rain aims to double its team with expansion plans in the region by 2022.

“We believe Rain is a crucial piece of the puzzle for bringing the Middle East deeper into the new crypto economy,” said Casey Caruso, investing partner at Paradigm.

The cryptocurrency sector is beginning to gain traction in the Gulf region. In January 2021, the country’s Central Bank approved the launch of crypto exchange CoinMENA, which complies with Islamic law, or shariah.

In September, the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) has signed an agreement with the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) to support the regulation of cryptocurrencies within DWTCA’s free zone.

Also, last month, the world’s leading crypto exchange Binance has received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to establish itself as a crypto-asset service provider in the Kingdom of Bahrain.