US-based data blockchain technology developer Spring Labs collected $23m on Wednesday in a series A round featuring payment card services provider Cardworks and GM Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of carmaker General Motors (GM).
Investment firm GreatPoint Ventures led the round, with contributions from digital asset banking firm Galaxy Digital, venture capital firms August Capital and RRE Ventures, crypto-focused hedge fund Multicoin Capital and investment firm Pritzker Group.
Founded in 2012, Spring Labs has created a data transfer protocol that exploits the decentralised nature of blockchain technology to secure financial and identity-related information for purposes such as credit referencing.
The protocol will initially underpin three products: an identity verification tool called Spring Verify, a fraud monitoring service dubbed Spring Defense and a loan stacking prevention tool known as Spring Protect. Loan stacking is a term for a process where a single applicant seeks multiple loans from different lenders simultaneously.
Spring Labs has formed a partnership with GM division GM Financial that will involve them building applications for its blockchain platform. A portion of the series A proceeds earmarked for product development and enhancements to the underlying protocol.
August Capital led Spring Labs’ $14.8m seed round in March 2018, with contributions from Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Multicoin Capital, Jump Capital, Victory Park Capital, GreatPoint Ventures and Wavemaker Genesis, with the latter run jointly by Wavemaker Partners and individual Scott Walker.