Coinbase Acquires Machine Learning Startup Agara for Over $40M

Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S, has announced the acquisition of Agara, a Bengaluru-based startup that operates a customer support platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

The two companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal, however, it is expected to be between $40 million and $50 million, Techcrunch reported on Tuesday citing sources familiar with the matter.

“The acquisition reinforces our commitment to delivering world-class support for customers, and brings Agara’s deep expertise in machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to Coinbase’s engineering team,” Coinbase said in a statement.

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The San Francisco-based company added that the acquisition of Agara reconfirms its strategy to continue to build out a tech hub in India.

“Through this acquisition, we’ll be able to provide our customers with new personalized, intelligent, and real-time support options,” reads the announcement.

Agara employs over 40 people and offers integrations with popular services including Salesforce, Shopify, and Twilio. After the acquisition, Agara will shift its focus to Coinbase, the startup’s CEO and co-founder Abhimanyu told TechCrunch.

In search of new talent

Coinbase revealed it was establishing a business presence in India in March this year, with plans to deliver a selection of IT services, including engineering, software development, and customer support operations.

In July, the company said that to lure the best talent, all its new recruits in India would be offered a one-time payment of $1,000—paid in crypto.

Coinbase reiterated that improving customer experience “remains a top priority,” reminding that in the past few months the exchange has increased its support staff headcount fivefold.

By the end of the year, Coinbase is planning to launch 24/7 phone support and live messaging.

Coinbase on acquisition spree

For Coinbase, which earlier this year debuted on the Nasdaq, this is not the first acquisition in recent months.

Aside from Agara, this year’s acquisitions for Coinbase included crypto startup Zabo, blockchain node provider service Bison Trails, and crypto data aggregator Skew.

According to data intelligence platform Tracxn, the firm has completed a total of 18 acquisitions prior to the Agara deal, investing in sectors such as cryptocurrencies, human resource technology (HRTech), blockchain infrastructure, and more.