Crypto Startup Backed by Google Fund Hits $8 Billion Valuation
Investors including a Google-affiliated growth fund push the valuation of crypto startup Fireblocks.
(Bloomberg) -- Investors including an Alphabet Inc.-affiliated growth fund pushed the valuation of crypto startup Fireblocks Inc. to $8 billion in its latest financing round, four times what the company was valued at in July.
Fireblocks Inc. raised $550 million in the Series E round, which was co-led by D1 Capital Partners and Spark Capital, according to a statement on Thursday. CapitalG, the independent Alphabet fund that manages over $3 billion, was among investors along with General Atlantic, Index Ventures and Parafi Growth Fund.
It was CapitalG’s second crypto investment, said Fireblocks Chief Executive Officer Michael Shaulov, whose company provides a range of cryptocurrency-related services including custody and tools for minting digital tokens. Fireblocks will used the proceeds for acquisitions and to expand in areas such as payments, he said in an email.
Crypto firms have continued raising capital at rapidly expanding valuations in January even as an increasingly hawkish Federal Reserve sparked a rout in everything from digital tokens to high-priced technology stocks. Some venture capitalists are now warning that the industry has gotten ahead of itself, and that a reckoning may be at hand.
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