VALR is Africa’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume and the continent’s leading digital asset infrastructure provider — a South African success story now going global. Co-founded in 2018 by CEO Farzam Ehsani (previously chair of the South African Financial Blockchain Consortium) with Badi Sudhakaran and team, and headquartered in Johannesburg, VALR lets customers buy, sell, store and transfer Bitcoin and 60+ cryptocurrencies — the widest selection of any platform in Africa — serving more than 1.8 million registered retail users worldwide and over 2,000 corporate and institutional clients across Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe.

VALR has set the pace on African crypto regulation: in April 2024 it became one of the first platforms granted both Category I and Category II Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) licences by South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority, and in 2025 added an Over-the-Counter Derivatives Provider (ODP) licence — making it the first crypto exchange licensed to offer Rand-settled crypto futures, and one of the first South African FSPs licensed to offer traditional instruments (deposits, shares, bonds, securities) with crypto underlyings. It has regulatory approvals in Europe and initial approval from Dubai’s VARA, and completed a Proof of Reserves audit with Hacken. Its 2022 Series B — $50 million led by Pantera Capital at a $240 million valuation, with Coinbase Ventures, Avon Ventures (Fidelity-affiliated), GSR, CMT Digital and others — was the largest African crypto raise to date. VALR maintains deep banking relationships in South Africa, giving it the country’s best fiat on/off-ramps.