Circle, a US-based developer of finance technology based on cryptocurrency Bitcoin, closed a $50m series C round yesterday co-led by investment bank Goldman Sachs and corporate-backed venture capital fund IDG Capital Partners.
IDG Capital, the China-based VC affiliate of media company International Data Group, and Goldman Sachs were joined by Breyer Capital, General Catalyst Partners, Accel Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Fenway Summer, Digital Currency Group, Pantera Capital and undisclosed individual strategic investors.
Founded in 2013, Circle is developing a range of consumer finance products built on top of open standards and open protocols like Bitcoin that could hypothetically make money storage and transfers easier and more secure.
Quan Zhou, managing director of IDG Capital Partners and now one of Circle’s board members, said: “Consumer finance is undergoing a profound transformation with the rise of mobile payment applications and a growing appetite for financial products from non-traditional providers. We feel that Circle is strongly positioned to capitalise on these trends.
“We are very excited about our investment and look forward to helping launch the company in the Chinese market where consumer adoption of innovative digital payment products is growing at a tremendous rate.”
Breyer, Accel and General Catalyst previously supplied the $9m raised in Circle’s 2013 series A round before being joined by Oak Investment Partners, Pantera Capital, Bitcoin Opportunity Fund and a host of angel investors for the company’s $17m series B in March 2014.