Fireblocks, a US-based developer of digital asset management infrastructure, received $133m yesterday in a series C round featuring telecommunications firm Swisscom and financial services firms BNY Mellon and SVB Financial Group.
Investment manager Coatue, venture capital firm Ribbit Capital and private equity firm Stripes co-led the round, investing together with Paradigm, Galaxy Digital, Tenaya Capital and Cyberstarts Ventures. Swisscom took part through its corporate VC arm, Swisscom Ventures.
Founded in 2018, Fireblocks operates an infrastructure platform used by financial services companies to store, transfer and issue digital assets such as cryptocurrencies. It told TechCrunch the round valued it at less than $1bn.
The company’s platform has secured over $400bn worth of digital assets and is being used by more than 200 financial institutions including banks, cryptocurrency exchanges and financial technology (fintech) companies.
Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks, said: “We are humbled to have the top VCs in fintech and the most important strategic partners support our mission to re-platform the financial ecosystem into digital assets.
“Their financial backing guarantees the long-term stability, technology superiority and service delivery to our exponentially growing customer base.”
The series C round increased Fireblocks’ total funding to $179m, four months after Paradigm led a $30m series B round that included Cyberstarts, Tenaya Capital, Digital Currency Group, Galaxy Digital and Cedar Hill Capital.
The company had raised $16m in a mid-2019 series A round featuring Swisscom Ventures and Eight Roads Ventures, a VC subsidiary of investment and financial services group Fidelity, as well as Cyberstarts, Tenaya Capital and MState.