EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
Blockchain (the company) raises $40M to spread its bitcoin wallet further
Bitcoin startup Blockchain Luxembourg S.A. has raised $40 million in a Series B round led by Lakestar.
Founded in 2011, Blockchain aims to reimagine global financial transactions using software that facilitates the use of bitcoin for its customers. Having passed 10 million bitcoin wallets in November last year, Blockchain claims to be the world’s most popular bitcoin wallet provider as well as providing the “most widely used Bitcoin APIs” and “the most popular block explorer and search engine.”
“The 14 trillion dollar financial services industry hasn’t meaningfully changed in over a century,” Blockchain Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Peter Smith said in a statement. “Blockchain is on a mission to create a financial system that is faster, more inclusive, and radically different than the status quo.”
The company is focused on building a series of localized onramps into its wallet that it claimed will make the acquisition of digital cash fast, easy and inexpensive for both banked and unbanked consumers across the globe. The company claims to service millions of users spanning 140 countries with billions in monthly consumer transaction volume.
“Our Series B represents the most substantial investment in the fintech space since Brexit and is the largest Series B raised by any digital currency company to date,” Smith added.
Including the new funding, Blockchain has raised $70 million to date. The new round’s investors also included GV, Nokota Management, Digital Currency Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mosaic Venture Partners, Prudence Holdings and the Virgin Group.
The company said it would use the new funding to make “big, bold bets in research and development” as well as to further expand into new countries.
Image: Davidstankiewicz/Wikimedia Commons
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