AAA Coinbase puts $300m in its coffers

Coinbase puts $300m in its coffers

Coinbase, the US-based cryptocurrency trading platform backed by corporates BBVA, USAA, NTT Docomo and New York Stock Exchange, agreed a $300m series E round led by hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management today.

Accelerator operator Y Combinator’s Continuity fund, investment management firm Wellington Management, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and blockchain investment firm Polychain also took part in the round, which values the company at $8bn post-money.

Coinbase has developed an online trading platform for digital currencies as well as a wallet to store cryptocurrency assets. The company, which has more than 20 million users, will use the funding to grow internationally and expand the range of currencies it supports.

The round took the total raised by Coinbase to $517m since it was founded in 2012. Institutional Venture Partners led its $100m series D round in August 2017, which included Spark Capital, Greylock Partners, Battery Ventures, Section 32 and Draper Associates.

The series D round valued the company at $1.6bn and came in the wake of a $10.5m round in mid-2016 featuring Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, both subsidiaries of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, and Sozo Ventures.

Financial services providers BBVA and USAA, exchange operator New York Stock Exchange and Docomo Capital, a subsidiary of mobile network operator NTT Docomo, had all invested in a $75m series C round for Coinbase the year before that valued it at $490m.

DFJ Growth led the series C round, which also featured Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Ribbit Capital and private investors Vikram Pandit and Tom Glocer. Its earlier backers include Y Combinator, SV Angel and Fundersclub.

Asiff Hirji, Coinbase’s COO and president, said: “Coinbase is, and will remain, a crypto-first company. More than anything, we are proud of the millions of people that have turned to Coinbase as their entry-point into crypto. We take that responsibility very seriously.

“We strive to be the easy, trusted way for anyone to get started with cryptocurrencies. We see Coinbase’s growth as validation that the ecosystem will only continue to grow in size, influence and impact  –  ultimately ushering in a more open financial system for the world.”

By Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.

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