Coinbase, a US-based provider of digital wallet and payment services for Bitcoin, raised $75m yesterday in a series C round backed by Spain-based bank BBVA and New York Stock Exchange.
Docomo Capital, the corporate venturing unit of mobile telecommunications operator Docomo, was among the investors in the round, which was led by DFJ Growth, the seed-stage subsidiary of venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, USAA and Ribbit Capital, as well as Vikram Pandit, former chief executive of financial services provider Citigroup, and Tom Glocer, former chief executive of mass media company Thomson Reuters, also participated.
The round, reportedly secured at a valuation of $490m, is the largest ever raised by a Bitcoin-focused company.
Coinbase’s platform enables people to buy, exchange and transfer money in the form of decentralised cryptocurrency Bitcoin. It will use the funding to support global growth.
The company has now raised $106m altogether, including $25m from a 2013 series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz that included Union Square and Ribbit. Earlier that same year, it secured $5m from Union Square, Ribbit, SV Angel and crowdfunding site Fundersclub.
Coinbase graduated from accelerator Y Combinator in 2012 and reportedly raised a seed round of $600,000 the same year from private investors on Fundersclub, Y Combinator and angel investors.