US-based cryptocurrency product developer BlockFi picked up $50m yesterday in a series C round featuring marketing technology producer CM Group and financial services firm Siam Commercial Bank.
Venture capital fund Valar Ventures led the round, which included Avon Ventures, an affiliate of investment and financial services group Fidelity, as well as Castle Island Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Purple Arch Ventures, Kenetic Capital and HashKey Capital.
Two unnamed university endowments filled out the round along with private investors Michael Antonov and Matthew Dellavedova, while CM Group and Siam Commercial Bank invested through respective units CMT Digital and SCB 10X.
BlockFi has created a suite of financial products around cryptocurrencies, including a stablecoin-based interest account, a commission-free cryptocurrencies trading tool and consumer loans that accept Bitcoin, Ether or Litecoin as collateral.
The series C funding will help the company expand its offering, as it looks to launch a credit card, in addition to increasing headcount and adding support for other digital assets and currencies.
Anthony Pompliano, co-founder and partner at Morgan Creek Digital, has joined BlockFi’s board of directors in conjunction with the round.
The company had added Three Arrows Capital to its shareholders through a secondary transaction of undisclosed size in April this year, two months after a $30m series B round backed by CMT Digital that brought its overall equity financing to more than $110m.
Valar Ventures led the series B round, while trading firm Akuna Capital, Morgan Creek Digital, Avon Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Arrington XRP Capital, Purple Arch Ventures, Kenetic Capital, PJC, Winklevoss Capital and HashKey Capital also took part.
BlockFi raised $18.3m in an August 2019 series A round led by Valar Ventures and backed by Consensys Ventures, a subsidiary of blockchain software provider Consensys, quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG), CM Group, Akuna, Winklevoss Capital, PJC, Galaxy Digital Ventures, Avon Ventures and Morgan Creek.
Akuna led a $4m convertible note round for BlockFi in December 2018 that also featured Recruit Strategic Partners, an investment vehicle for human resources firm Recruit, as well as CMT Digital, Galaxy Digital, Morgan Creek, SIG’s Susquehanna Government Products unit and Devonshire Investors.
The company had secured $52.5m in a Galaxy Digital-led round in July 2018 that included Consensys and PJC, the two having already taken part in a $1.6m round five months earlier together with online lending platform SoFi, Kinetic Capital, Purple Arch and Lumenary.
