The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Coinbase, has officially acquired an Indian-based AI company. Coinbase has acquired Agara to help improve its customer support. The estimated worth of this buyout is about $40 million and $50 million, as TechCrunch reported.
During the official announcement of the acquisition, Coinbase said that they are optimistic about Agara. The crypto exchange believes Agara will help expand and automate Coinbase’s customer service capabilities. This acquisition also reinforces the crypto exchange’s strategy to expand operations to India.
What is Coinbase All About?
Coinbase is one of the two crypto exchanges in the US that facilitates the buying and selling of decentralized cryptocurrencies. It was founded in 2012 and remains a fully regulated and licensed cryptocurrency exchange in all U.S. states apart from Hawaii.
At the beginning, Coinbase only allowed for Bitcoin trading. However, it quickly began adding cryptocurrencies that matched its decentralized criteria. Coinbase’s list of currencies expanded to include Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, and many others as long as they meet the requirements.
How Big Is Agara Labs?
Founded in 2017, Agara’s focus was on machine learning and natural language processing to enhance user experience. At the time, it had only about 40 employees. Over time however, the AI company has managed to amass some huge customer base. Some of their biggest clients include cloud-based software company Salesforce and popular e-commerce company Shopify.
Abhimanyu, Agara’s co-founder and CEO pointed out that the company has also managed to integrate its technology into phone calls-based communication.
“Some of the more complicated things we do are around phone calls. We have been working to automate much of, if not all, of the support…” Abhimanyu stated.
This message is certainly good news for Coinbase whose users called out their poor customer service in mid-October. Coinbase’s clients complained about the new phone support line. In fact, many of them said that it was a “complete joke.” This was just after the exchange had extinguished similar claims in August, when users kept complaining about lost assets and hacked accounts.
Searching For Talent
The head of operations in India’s Coinbase branch has said Agara’s tech team will join them after the deal. He says in a heartfelt statement that “It’s amazing to see my worlds collide here with Agara.” Pankaj Gupta also hopes that the deal will be a win-win situation for both parties.
This deal allegedly proposes that all new recruits in India will get a one-time payment of $1000 made in crypto. This is in a bid to attract the best talent when the deal is sealed later this year. This move will increase its support staff headcount by about five times more. It will also enable Coinbase to realize their plan to launch a 24/7 phone support and live message by close of the year.
Coinbase Goes Shopping For Acquisitions
Coinbase seems to be on an acquisition spree of sorts this year. Having bagged crypto data aggregator skew, Crypto startup Zabo, and Blockchain node provider service Bison Trails before Agara. It has also made partnerships with big companies like Facebook to advance crypto trading