Founded in August 2011, Blockchain, the startup from London started out as an open source project to build tools that would make it easy for anyone to use digital currencies.
Peter Smith, CEO and cofounder of Blockchain said in a blog, “I’m extremely proud and humbled by the progress we’ve made – millions of active users around the world, exchange partnerships in 34 countries, billions in monthly consumer volume, and an API platform used by some of the biggest companies in our field.”
The startup has succeeded in securing 40 million dollars in a Series B round from Lakestar and GV (formerly Google Ventures) with additional participation from Nokota Management and Digital Currency Group. Existing investors, Lightspeed Venture Partners; Mosaic Venture Partners; Prudence Holdings; Virgin, and Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Group) also participated in the round. In 2014, Blockchain raised just over 30 million dollars in Series A back in 2014.
The significance of this round to startups from the UK is that it comes even while there are uncertainties around the UK’s economic and political stability after their decision to leave the European Union. “Our Series B represents the most substantial investment in the fintech space since Brexit and is the largest Series B raised by any digital currency company to date. This brings our total capital raised to over 70 million dollars and we’re thrilled to welcome some of the most well-respected investors in the world to the Blockchain family,” Smith writes.
With a mission to create an open, accessible, and fair financial future for billions across the globe, one piece of software at a time, this infusion of capital could be a much needed stepping stone taking the startup closer to accomplishing that mission. Earlier this month, bitcoin and another cryptocurrency, Ether reached record levels. Bitcoin trade price is close 3000 dollars now.
The Blockchain CEO claims to be the market leader and says they will continue research and development to increase financial inclusion using digital currency and expansion efforts globally.
“You can also expect new products aimed at allowing anyone to transact, save, or hedge digital assets with greater speed, efficiency and control. Innovating, disrupting, revolutionizing a century old industry takes time.”