Investors including internet and telecommunications firm SoftBank and internet technology conglomerate Alphabet have acquired $700m of shares in US-based cryptocurrency investment firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) through a secondary sale, CNBC reported yesterday.
The deal valued the company at more than $10bn and additionally included GIC Capital and Ribbit Capital. SoftBank led the secondary round through its Vision Fund 2 and Latin America Fund according to the Wall Street Journal, while Alphabet was represented by its CapitalG unit.
DCG provides funding to blockchain and digital currency technology developers in addition to access to its network and industry know-how. It has some 150 active portfolio companies based across 30 countries.
The company had received an undisclosed amount of funding from investors including insurer New York Life and payment services group Mastercard soon after it was founded in 2015.
Transamerica Ventures, the venture capital fund sponsored by insurance firm Aegon, also took part in the 2015 round, as did Bain Capital Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Solon Mack Capital, CIBC, Novel TMT, RRE Ventures and FirstMark Capital.
Omers Ventures, a vehicle for pension scheme operator Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, then invested an undisclosed amount in the company the year after.
CapitalG founder and general partner David Lawee told CNBC: “DCG has a lot of flexibility to make investments and to get into new businesses.”
Marcelo Claure, SoftBank Group International chief executive and chief operating officer of SoftBank Group, was quoted by the WSJ as saying: “[DCG] is basically the single-best asset that gives us the diversity of exposure to crypto, A [to] Z.”
