Leading cryptocurrency custodian — Fireblocks — has closed a $550 million Series E venture capital round, co-led by Spark Capital, D1 Capital Partners, General Atlantic, Mammoth and other investors. The financing boosted the company’s valuation to $8 billion.
The Newest Fundraise
Despite the ongoing correction in the cryptocurrency market, the New York-based blockchain platform – Fireblocks – continues to raise funds. According to a recent blog post, the firm’s latest investment turned it into the “highest-valued digital asset provider in the world.”
CEO Michael Shaulov said that Fireblocks intends to distribute the new capital in innovations for the DeFi sector, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and payments:
“Everything that’s happening at the cross-section of DeFi, NFTs, gaming, streaming, and entertainment will be the biggest emerging use cases in the next year and a half.”
He added that the organization could use some of the money in possible acquisitions of other businesses.
Additionally, the multimillion fundraise should help the firm “catch up” with its rapidly growing customer base. In the span of a year, Fireblocks increased its institutional clients from 150 to 800. Prominent names include BNY Mellon, Galaxy Digital, Revolut, BlockFi, eToro, and CryptoCom.
Earlier this month, the US-based company became the first backer of the Aave Arc – a licensed version of DeFi lending platform Aave.
The entity claims to provide support for nearly 1,000 cryptocurrencies across over 20 blockchains. A week ago, it added support for Solana, while Shaulov named NEAR and Tron as the next possible additions.
The previous funding cycle
Last summer, Fireblocks raised $310 million in a Series D round. Notable investors co-leading the initiative include Stripes Group, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, DRW Venture, and more.
As a result, the company became a crypto unicorn with a valuation of around $2 billion. Back then, it intended to use the capital to expand geographically, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
It appears the initiative has been successful as Shaulov has now noted that 25% of Fireblocks customers are located there. He also described this part of the world as the fastest growing area for his business since 2020.
