Investors are cashing in on the new age currency and financial systems: bitcoin and blockchain.
Blockchain, a company that specializes in bitcoin and blockchain technology has raised $40 million in its second round of institutional funding, led by European venture capital firm Lakestar and Google’s venture capital wing, GV.
Other investors who participated in this round were Nokota Management and Digital Currency Group along with existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Prudence Holdings, Virgin, and Sir Richard Branson.
With the $40 million addition, the total funds raised by Blockchain rose to $70 million. With this new round of funding, the organization claims to have the largest investment in a startup since Brexit. Blockchain, while headquartered in Luxembourg, has the majority of its employees working from its London office.
Founded in 2011, the startup provides tools to use bitcoin and blockchain, next generation technology, to strengthen digital currency. One of the largest digital wallets, Blockchain.info has around 15 million open accounts for bitcoins.
Commenting on the funding round, company founder and CEO Peter Smith said investors can expect the company to make big decisions in the areas of research and development to strengthen their portfolio and focus on global expansion. “Innovating, disrupting, revolutionizing a century old industry takes time,” Smith said, “We’ve made significant strides, but we’re just getting started.”
Currently the company has around 50 employees but it plans to expand as part of the fundraising round.
Bitcoin has gained tremendous popularity in the last few months because of the price rally that it has witnessed. Global banks are also embracing this technology and investing resources to implement its functions that will integrate bitcoin with the mainstream financial system.
Anirudh M. for TechFunnel.com
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