Coinbase raises $300m, now valued at $8bn
Coinbase lands $300m funding
In its largest round of funding to date, digital currency wallet Coinbase has closed a $300 million investment, writes Julie Muhn at Finovate.
The Series E equity round, which brings the company’s total funding to just over $525 million, was led by Tiger Global Management. Y Combinator Continuity, Wellington Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain, and others also participated.
The company says it plans to use the funds “to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies and digital assets”. Specifically, Coinbase will expand globally, offer more crypto assets, focus on utility applications for cryptocurrencies, and bring institutional funds into the cryptocurrency space.
Asiff Hirji, Coinbase president and COO, comments on the optimism for the future of crypto. “We see Coinbase’s growth as validation that the ecosystem will only continue to grow in size, influence and impact – ultimately ushering in a more open financial system for the world,” Hirji says. The funding brings with it a spike in Coinbase’s valuation.
The company became a unicorn valued at $1.6 billion after its previous funding round in August of last year, and has now announced that it is now worth over $8 billion. And that valuation is not unfounded – Coinbase has done a lot over the course of the past year to earn its eightfold boost in valuation. Among its news-making accomplishments, the company launched Coinbase Custody to help institutional investors store digital assets, acquired Memo.AI and Earn.com, launched Coinbase Commerce, was granted an e-money licence from the UK regulator FCA, launched its own venture fund, and launched institutional grade solutions for cryptocurrency trading.
Coinbase was founded in 2012. Brian Armstrong is CEO.
