Schibsted : invests in the cryptocurrency exchange platform Firi

Firi, the leading Scandinavian trading platform for cryptocurrency, has made a new investment round of NOK 60 million led by Schibsted Ventures.

"Our ambition is to make it safe and easy for customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. We are especially pleased to have Schibsted Ventures as a new investor now that Firi is facing a Scandinavian expansion. Together we will be able to accelerate our growth and expand to both Sweden and Denmark and continue to lead the cryptocurrency trading in Scandinavia," says Thuc Hoang, CEO and co-founder of Firi.

With Schibsted Ventures as the largest investor, the private placement amounts to NOK 60 million in a round that valued Firi at NOK 731 million pre-money.

"As investors with a strong focus on financial services, we are inevitably curious about crypto trading. We have followed Firi closely for a while and are impressed by both the team, the growth and the platform. The Scandinavian cryptocurrency market is growing rapidly and the company is well-positioned to expand to more markets," says Dan Ouchterlony EVP, Schibsted Financial Services & Ventures.

"The company sees the importance of making cryptocurrency investments safe and easy for Scandinavian customers, which is central to us at Schibsted. We look forward to taking part in the next phase of the growth journey," Dan Ouchterlony EVP continues.

In 2021, Firi increased its customer base from 12,000 to over 125,000 verified customers who have traded cryptocurrencies for almost NOK 6 billion. Firi has also launched a savings product where customers can create weekly or monthly withdrawals from their bank account which are converted into cryptocurrency.

According to a market survey conducted by the company, about 440,000 Norwegians have invested in cryptocurrencies and the trend is expected to continue in the future. As part of the growth ambition, the company is increasing its workforce. In 2022, new, simple and sustainable products will also be launched.

"Our goal is to continue to be the leading platform for crypto trading in Scandinavia with the ambition to more than triple our customer base by the end of 2022," concludes Thuc Hoang.

For more information please contact:

Thuc Hoang, CEO of Firi
E-mail: [e-mail], Phone: [phone]

Mats Staugaard, Investment Manager Schibsted Ventures
E-mail: [e-mail], Phone: [phone]

About Firi |www.firi.com

Firi is a cryptocurrency platform established in 2017 by technicians who wanted to create a platform for trading of cryptocurrency that is easy, safe and fully compliant. Firi has grown to become a versatile team of more than 60 employees with headquarters at Aker Brygge, Oslo. With more than 125,000 customers, Firi is the largest platform for cryptocurrency trading in Scandinavia.

Our vision is to give everyone better financial services and opportunities. We offer easy, safe and engaging services. We are registered at The Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) as a service provider for exchanging and storage of cryptocurrency in Norway.

About Schibsted Ventures | www.schibsted.com

Schibsted Ventures invests in disruptive, scalable, and innovative business models that create unique values that aim to become market leaders. We help smart founders and winning teams establish their products, scale their businesses internationally and maximise growth to become market leaders. We're always on the lookout for disruptive, scalable, and innovative business models that create unique value. Over the years we've made investments in companies like Blocket, Prisjakt, Lendo, Bookis, Tibber and many more. We've also successfully scaled concepts internationally.