Digital Asset, a US-based blockchain software tool developer backed by a number of corporate investors, raised $120m yesterday in a series D round that included investment firm Eldridge and asset manager 7Ridge.
Founded in 2014, Digital Asset has created an open-source smart contract language called Daml that enables users to develop distributed applications for distributed ledger technology, blockchain technology and databases. The funding will support a 50% increase in headcount by the end of 2021.
The company has raised at least $270m of funding to date, including a $60m round in 2016 backed by computing technology producer IBM, professional services firm Accenture, financial technology provider Broadridge Financial Solutions and financial exchange operators Deutsche Börse Group, Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and CME.
Interdealer broker Icap also took part in the round, along with post-trade financial services provider Depository Trust as well as financial services firms ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Citi, JP Morgan, PNC Financial Services Group and Santander.
CME and Santander were represented by their respective corporate venturing units, CME Ventures and Santander InnoVentures. ASX invested an additional $7.2m later in the year to increase its stake in Digital Asset to 8.5%.
Family office Jefferson River Capital led a $40m series B round for the company in 2017, with participation from undisclosed new and existing backers. It then raised over $35m in a series C round in late 2019 backed by unnamed new and existing investors.
Digital Asset received an undisclosed amount of series C funding in February 2020 from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation and Salesforce Ventures, on behalf of electronics manufacturer Samsung and enterprise software producer Salesforce respectively. Virtualisation technology producer VMware added an undisclosed sum five months later.