Zipmex is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2019 and headquartered in Singapore. It targeted retail and institutional users across Southeast Asia, with active operations in Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, and Singapore. The company positioned itself as a regulated gateway for digital assets in emerging Asian markets, obtaining licenses or pursuing registration in each of its key jurisdictions.
The exchange was co-founded by Marcus Lim (CEO) and Akalarp Yimwilai, who brought backgrounds in traditional finance and technology to the venture. In 2021, Zipmex raised approximately $52 million in Series B funding, with Gulf Energy Development – a major Thai conglomerate – as a prominent backer. That capital was earmarked for regional expansion and product development. The fundraise gave Zipmex a credible institutional profile and fuelled ambitions to compete with larger global exchanges in the Southeast Asian corridor.
Alongside its core exchange business, Zipmex made a small number of strategic investments in crypto-adjacent projects. Public information about the specific names and sizes of these portfolio companies is limited. CryptoRank data indicates six portfolio investments with one lead deal, but no verified public disclosures identify the recipients or disclosed deal values.
Notable investments
Public information about Zipmex's individual portfolio investments is not available in regulatory filings or press releases reviewed as of early 2026. The company did not operate a named venture arm or publish an investment thesis separate from its exchange business. Any corporate investments appear to have been strategic in nature – likely ecosystem plays tied to liquidity, product integrations, or regional partnerships – rather than formal venture capital activity.
Team
Marcus Lim (CEO) previously worked in financial services before entering crypto. Akalarp Yimwilai served as co-founder and led Thailand operations, where the exchange built its largest retail user base. The founding team prioritised Southeast Asian localisation, offering Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah, and Australian dollar on-ramps at a time when few exchanges served those fiat corridors natively.
Recent activity
Zipmex became one of the more prominent casualties of the 2022 crypto credit crisis. In July 2022, the company suspended customer withdrawals after disclosing roughly $53 million in unsecured loans to Babel Finance – a crypto lender that itself froze redemptions that month. Additional exposure to Celsius Network compounded the shortfall. Zipmex subsequently filed for judicial management (creditor protection) in Singapore's High Court and initiated similar proceedings in Thailand.
Restructuring talks with multiple potential acquirers – including parties from the Gulf region and Southeast Asia – extended through 2022 and into 2023 without a completed deal being publicly confirmed. The Singapore Monetary Authority also scrutinised the exchange's fitness for a Digital Payment Token service licence during this period. By 2024, Zipmex's operational status across its regional markets had deteriorated significantly.
As a corporate investor, Zipmex's activity was always secondary to its exchange operations. The collapse of the core business in 2022 effectively ended any active investment programme. For researchers and founders, Zipmex stands as a cautionary example of exchange-led strategic investing: concentrated credit risk in yield-generating counterparties erased the capital base before any portfolio strategy could mature. Further detail on the exchange's history is available via the Monetary Authority of Singapore and contemporaneous coverage from Bloomberg and CoinDesk.