US-based blockchain infrastructure technology developer Paxos received $300m yesterday in a series D round featuring PayPal Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of online payment service provider PayPal.
Venture capital firm Oak HC/FT led the round, which included Declaration Partners, Mithril Capital, Senator Investment Group, Liberty City Ventures and WestCap. The company has secured more than $535m since it was founded in 2012 and the round valued it at $2.4bn post-money.
Formerly known as ItBit, Paxos has built an online portal which helps users store and trade virtual currencies. It has a partnership agreement in place with PayPal and the latter’s Venmo subsidiary, which enables cryptocurrency transactions to be conducted on the platform.
The funding will help Paxos further improve its enterprise crypto infrastructure and ensure it complies with regulatory and safety requirements, in addition to increasing headcount, expanding its market presence and strengthening its software capabilities.
PayPal Ventures had already taken part in a $142m series C round for the company in December 2020 that was led by Declaration Partners and also backed by Liberty City Ventures, Mithril Capital, Alua Capital, RIT Capital Partners, Senator Investment Group, RRE Ventures and Ken Moelis.
RRE Ventures, Liberty City Ventures and Jay Jordan had supplied $65m in series B funding for Paxos in 2018, the three having joined James Pallotta in a $25m series A round three years earlier. Canaan Partners and RRE Ventures co-led its $3.3m seed round in 2013, investing with Jordan, Liberty City Ventures and Ben Davenport.
