Crypto exchange startup raises USD 17 mn: Dubai-based crypto exchange and wallet Backpack closed a USD 17 mn series A funding round led by crypto venture firm Placeholder VC that values the company at USD 120 mn, according to a press release. Other participating investors include Hashed, Robot Ventures, Amber Group, Wintermute Ventures, and blockchain platforms such as Solana, Tensor, Jito, Zeta, and Marginfi.

About Backpack: Headquartered in Dubai with a Virtual Asset Service Provider license, Backpack’s services and products include a crypto exchange, a crypto wallet, and an NFT collection called Mad Lads. It was founded by a group of former employees of disgraced crypto b’naire Sam Bankman-Fried ’s now-defunct crypto exchange, FTX, and Alameda Research. The crypto platform was launched in October 2023 in a bid to “fill a gap left by the collapse of their former employer Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire,” Bloomberg reports.

What they said: “The history of finance is littered with scandals, but Backpack is doing things differently. Over the past year, we’ve set the foundation to build a crypto-native financial institution, and with the conclusion of this round, with trust minimization and compliance as foundational principles, we begin a new chapter for ourselves and, hopefully, for the rest of the industry,” Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante said.

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