Ripple, the US-based developer of a blockchain-powered financial transfer platform, received $200m in series C funding from investors including financial services firm SBI on Friday.
Asset management group Tetragon led the round, which also featured financial technology-focused investment firm Route 66 Ventures. It valued the company at $10bn according to several media sources including CNBC and Forbes.
Founded in 2012, Ripple has created a platform that allows financial services providers to process payments quickly and cheaply anywhere in the world. It now has more than 300 customers spread across 45 countries.
The series C funds will go to recruitment and the expansion of Xpring, the incubation and investment vehicle Ripple launched in May 2018. Xpring will now operate a developer platform that will help app developers integrate global payment capabilities into their apps.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said: “We are in a strong financial position to execute against our vision. As others in the blockchain space have slowed their growth or even shut down, we have accelerated our momentum and industry leadership throughout 2019.”
The round took Ripple’s total funding to $290m, including $55m in series B funding from investors including SBI in 2016, the money reportedly secured at a $355m valuation.
Professional services firm Accenture, exchange operator CME, data storage technology producer Seagate Technology and banks Standard Chartered, Siam Commercial Bank and Santander also backed the round, as did venture capital firm Venture 51.
The company had closed a $32m series A round featuring Seagate, CME, Santander unit Santander InnoVentures, Route 66 Ventures, Venture 51, IDG Capital Partners, AME Cloud Ventures, ChinaRock Capital Management, China Growth Capital, Wicklow Capital, Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, Core Innovation Capital, RRE Ventures and Vast Ventures in 2015.
Ripple’s earlier investors include GV, part of internet technology group Alphabet, as well as IDG Capital, Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, Camp One Ventures, FF Angel, Core Innovation, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Vast Ventures and Venture51.
