US-based digital payments company Ripple Labs closed a $28m series A round yesterday backed by several corporate investors.
Data storage company Seagate, futures exchange operator CME and IDG Capital Partners, a venture capital affiliate of media and technology company International Data Group, all participated in the round.
The corporate backers were joined by AME Cloud Ventures, ChinaRock Capital Management, China Growth Capital, Wicklow Capital, Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, Core Innovation Capital, Route 66 Ventures, RRE Ventures, Vast Ventures and Venture 51.
Google Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of internet company Google, was rumoured in January 2015 to also be investing in the round. Although not listed among the series A participants in Ripple’s accompanying announcement, the unit is listed on the company’s wesbite as one of its investors.
Originally named OpenCoin, Ripple operates a decentralised digital payment system called XRP that verifies transactions in a way similar to cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The service is aimed at financial institutions, enabling smaller banks to avoid fees charged by larger intermediate banks.
The series A funding will support global growth, and follows a $3.5m seed round in November 2013 backed by IDG Capital, Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, Camp One Ventures, FF Angel, Core Innovation Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Vast Ventures and Venture51.
Google and IDG had already provided an undisclosed amount of seed funding for Ripple in May 2013, a month after Andreessen Horowitz, FF Angel, Lightspeed, Vast Ventures and Bitcoin Opportunity Fund did the same.