Institutional Roundup: Fireblocks raises $550m at $8bn valuation, FTX valued at $32bn

The cryptocurrency industry is attracting an increasing number of institutional players. This is reflected in rising investments in infrastructure and in the growing focus that companies are placing on Bitcoin as an asset class. The most important events of the past weeks are in ForkLog’s roundup.

Fireblocks raises $550 million at an $8 billion valuation

Crypto custody provider Fireblocks raised $550 million following a Series E round. Investors valued the company at $8 billion.

The round was led by D1 Capital Partners and Spark Capital with participation from General Atlantic, Index Ventures, Mammoth, CapitalG, Altimeter, ParaFi Capital, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Ribbit, Bank of New York Mellon, Paradigm and SCB10x.

The funds will be used to expand the client base, support various DeFi services and new blockchain platforms such as Terra, and to grow the staff—from 300 to 600.

Founded in 2018, Fireblocks provides institutional clients with a platform for secure asset storage, access to DeFi services such as Aave Arc, crypto asset staking capabilities and tokenisation.

Clients of the custodian include Bank of New York Mellon, Revolut, Galaxy Digital, BlockFi, Deribit, eToro, CoinShares and Three Arrows Capital. The assets under custody with Fireblocks total $45 billion.

FTX raises $400 million at a $32 billion valuation

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX announced raising $400 million as part of a Series C round. The company was valued at $32 billion.

The round included Temasek, Paradigm, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tiger Global and others.

The exchange said that since October 2021 the user base has grown by 60%, and average daily trading volume has risen by 40% (to about $14 billion).

In 2021, the daily number of trades on the platform, including derivatives, amounted to 13.8 billion. Spot trading volume rose by 2,400%, reaching $719 billion.

Animoca Brands raises $358.9 million at a $5 billion valuation

Hong Kong-based NFT gaming developer Animoca Brands raised $358 888 888. The company’s pre-money valuation was $5 billion.

The financing was led by Liberty City Ventures with participation from 10T Holdings, C Ventures, Gemini Frontier Fund, L2 Capital, Pacific Century Group, ParaFi Capital, Provident, Sequoia China, Soros Fund Management, Winklevoss Capital and others.

The funds will be used to pursue strategic investments and acquisitions, product development and licensing of intellectual property.

Blockdaemon raises $207 million at a $3.25 billion valuation

Blockdaemon closed a Series C round of $207 million. The blockchain company’s valuation reached $3.25 billion.

The round was led by Sapphire Ventures and Tiger Global. It also included SoftBank via Vision Fund 2, Boldstart Ventures, StepStone Group, Matrix Capital Management, Lerer Hippeau, Kenetic and Galaxy Digital.

The company will create a fund “to reinvest earned assets into institutional-grade DeFi offerings.”

Blockdaemon noted that in 2021 it hired 150 new employees and expanded to Singapore and Germany. Acquisitions include Lunie and Anyblock Analytics.

NFT platform Autograph, led by Tom Brady, raises $170 million

NFT platform Autograph, focused on sports and entertainment, raised $170 million in a Series B financing round. It was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins with participation from other investors.

The NFT platform has been operating since April 2021. Among those who have used it to release collections are Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles, golfer Tiger Woods, tennis star Naomi Osaka, Brady and The Weeknd.

New project from Blockstack founder Munib Ali raises $150 million

Trust Machines, founded by Blockstack founder Munib Ali and Princeton University computer science professor J. P. Singh, raised $150 million.

The round included venture firms Breyer Capital, Digital Currency Group, GoldenTree, Hivemind and Union Square Ventures.

We are pleased to announce that we have raised $150 million to turn Bitcoin from a passive store of value into the ultimate settlement layer for a new powerful platform, and to enable and grow a new economy of applications that use BTC and its blockchain,

— the founders wrote.

The aim is to create the largest ecosystem of dapps on Bitcoin and its blockchain. The project will be based on Blockstack’s Stacks platform, which creates layers of smart contracts for the network of the first cryptocurrency.

Phantom crypto wallet raises $109 million

The Solana-based cryptocurrency wallet Phantom closed a Series B round of $109 million. The project’s valuation reached $1.2 billion.

The funding round was led by venture firm Paradigm with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Variant Fund, Jump Capital, DeFi Alliance and Solana Ventures.

The funds will be used to scale the project, launch an Android app and increase the team from 20 to at least 40 people.

NFT publisher Pixel Vault raises $100 million

NFT-focused decentralized media group Pixel Vault raised $100 million in financing from venture firms 01 Advisors and Velvet Sea Ventures.

The company will use the funds to build an NFT platform based on several franchises that will allow individuals to own digital content in film, television, comics, video games and other media.

The startup is the creator of the PUNKS Comics project, where NFT holders gain access to webcomics. The first issue told the story of a fictional crypto-influencer Beanie; the second featured characters from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection.

Dune Analytics raises $69.4 million at a $1 billion valuation

Norway-based analytics platform Dune Analytics raised $69.42 million in a Series B round. It was led by Coatue.

The round valued the company at $1 billion. The funds will be used for training, compensation and expanding the capabilities of the “new generation of Web 3.0 data analysts”.

The startup also plans to expand to other blockchains with additional tools.

Dune Analytics works with data from Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism and xDAI. The developers plan to integrate all systems compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

British crypto-processing BCB Group raises $60 million

London-based crypto-processing BCB Group raised $60 million in a Series A round.

It was led by Foundation Capital with participation from BACKED VC, PayU, Digital Currency Group, Nexo, Wintermute, Menai Financial Group, Circle, Tokentus Investment, Cowa, Profluent Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures, North Island Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, Pantera and L1 Digital.

The funds will be used for geographic expansion of the business, as well as to acquire stakes in “critically important infrastructure partner” companies.

According to the statement, the round was the largest for this funding stage in the UK blockchain industry.

BCB Group provides clients with a full suite of cryptocurrency and fiat payment processing, digital asset trading and custody via a unified platform.

In five years of operation the firm has processed payments totaling around $100 billion.

Also on ForkLog:

• Metaplex raised $46 million from Multicoin Capital and Jump Crypto.
• Parachain auction winner Polkadot raised $22 million from Polychain and others.
• Crypto startup Superdao raised $10.5 million in seed funding.
• Animoca Brands backed an Indian gaming startup in a round of $10 million.

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