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Bahrain-headquartered crypto asset trading platform Rain Management has raised US$6 million in a Series A round led by Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP). Other investors, including Coinbase, Vision Ventures, CMT Digital Ventures, JIMCO, and DIFC Fintech Fund, also joined the funding round.
Shutterstock.comFounded in 2017 by Abdullah Almoaiqel, A. J. Nelson, Joseph Dallago, and Yehia Badawy, Rain Management provides a regulated way for its customers to buy, sell, and store bitcoin and other crypto assets. It is a subsidiary of Rain Financial Inc, which is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain as a crypto asset brokerage. Rain Management received a category 3 crypto asset service provider license from the Central Bank of Bahrain in 2019.
With an aim to focus more on its engineering team, expand through the Middle East, and work with diverse regulators in the Middle East, the co-founders hope to further their vision of mass adoption of crypto assets in the region using this fresh round of funding.
Commenting on timing of the investment, Riyad Abou Jaoudeh, Junior Partner at MEVP, was optimistic about supporting the team at Rain Management. “As crypto-assets continue to grow and transform into a recognized asset class, regional retail and institutional investors alike need a localized, safe, and regulated fiat-to-crypto rails,” he said, in a statement. "We are excited to back Rain Management, MENA’s first regulated crypto asset company. This marks our first investment in Bahrain, a progressively regulated launchpad for GCC fintech firms.”
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2020 in particular was a successful year for Rain Management, with the COVID-19 crisis having increased the general public’s interest in digital assets. “2020 has seen tremendous growth in the number of users and the transaction volume at Rain," says co-founder Yehia Badawy. "COVID-19 increased awareness around alternative asset classes, including crypto assets, and this has contributed in consistently breaking our all-time highs for monthly volumes."
Badawy points out the importance of people to carrying out their own research on crypto currencies to ensure responsible investing. “We believe that crypto assets have the potential to transform the way value is moved from one place to another, and provide a store of value independent of traditional assets,” he concludes. "We work on educating those interested in crypto assets through our meetups, and think it is important for anyone interested to conduct their own research prior to buying crypto assets."
