B Capital-Backed Crypto Exchange Zipmex Partners With Australian Football And Rugby Teams

Zipmex, a Southeast Asian crypto trading platform, has joined forces with teams from Australia’s A-League Men soccer league and National Rugby League to strengthen its foothold in the country, following $52 million in total funding over the years from investors including Singapore billionaire Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group.

Zipmex announced on Monday that it would team up with the National Rugby League’s Penrith Panthers, the defending national champions, as well as the A-League Men’s Central Coast Mariners, the two-time national champions.

As part of the partnerships, Zipmex said it will host educational workshops at the games to improve crypto literacy on a regular basis. The Singapore-based company will also offer fans giveaways of digital coins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) featuring players from Central Coast Mariners and Penrith Panthers.

“It is Zipmex’s primary goal in 2022 to expand our cross-dimensional presence–real world and metaverse–in Asia Pacific and explore different ways to engage with current and potential users,” said cofounder and CEO Marcus Lim.

Last August, Zipmex raised $41 million from the likes of the venture capital arm of Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya, as well as Bangkok-listed Plan B Media and Master Ad. That was followed by an additional $11 million investment in March by B Capital, the investment firm led by Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin, Bain Capital veteran Rajarshi Ganguly and legendary investor Howard Morgan. Zipmex said the fundraising valued the company at “mid-hundred million.”

Established in 2018, Zipmex offers crypto trading and investment services in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia. The company said it has attracted more than 2 million users. It processed roughly $21.7 million of spot trades as of April 25, according to tracker CoinMarketCap.

Last year, Zipmex said it had forged a partnership with Visa to launch a payment card. The company has also recently jumped on the metaverse bandwagon by collaborating with Thai tycoon Paiboon Damrongchaitham’s GMM Grammy entertainment conglomerate to launch a virtual concert on Decentraland, a blockchain-based game that allows players to build a virtual world.