Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, the venture capital arm of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, made a strategic investment in US-based digital currency technology developer Coinbase yesterday as part of a $10.5m round.
The unit invested as part of a strategic partnership agreement between Coinbase and Mitsubishi UFJ subsidiary Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), which also took part in the round, as did VC fund Sozo Ventures.
Coinbase operates a bitcoin exchange that currently spans 32 countries. It is not yet present in Japan, but Sam Rosenblum, who heads Coinbase’s international expansion and banking, told Reuters that would change in future, and that Coinbase and BTMU had collaborated on various projects for around a year.
“BTMU will be a strong partner for us both in Asia and globally,” he said. “Japan will certainly be an important market for us and one that is pretty critical for the development of digital currencies.”
Coinbase had previously raised more than $105m in funding, including $75m in a January 2015 series C round that valued it at $490m.
Docomo Capital, the corporate venturing unit of mobile network Docomo, invested in that round, as did financial services firms USAA and BBVA, New York Stock Exchange, DFJ Growth, Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Ribbit Capital and angel investors Vikram Pandit and Tom Glocer.