Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare has raised $30 million in new equity financing.

Announced today

, the funding was led by financial services firm Canaccord Genuity. The funding, according to the company, "will be used to fuel a global growth plan and diversification strategy focused on making the platform even more responsive to mainstream customers' needs."

Part of that push will include hiring as many as 100 employees over the coming months, with an eye to have 200 employees working for the exchange by the second quarter of this year

Bloomberg Markets reported in January that the company is eyeing the U.S. and U.K. markets, and is also planning an initial public offering (IPO) in Canada for Sept. 2018. Coinsquare hopes its IPO will serve to establish the exchange as a reputable entity in the eyes of investors.

"We're racing, but racing to do it right. We're going to take the old-school route as an IPO to the Toronto Stock Exchange," Cole Diamond, Coinsquare CEO, was quoted as saying. Diamond also said that the exchange plans to launch one new cryptocurrency per month on its platform starting in February.

Coinsquare said its expansion plans also include investments in cryptocurrency mining, the launch of a Trading and Arbitrage division and the creation of funds "focused on investments across the digital asset landscape" which will be called CoinCap Funds.

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