R3 hits jackpot with $107m investment for DLT
“World’s largest distributed ledger technology (DLT) investment to date”
Blockchain consortium R3 has completed the first two of three tranches in its Series A fundraising round, securing $107 million in the “world’s largest distributed ledger technology (DLT) investment to date”.
The consortia contest is heating up as this handy cash injection follows on from yesterday’s (22 May) announcement from the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) that it had welcomed 86 new members.
R3 says its group of investors represents an equal geographical split across Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas, counting over 40 participants from over 15 countries. Investors include Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Mizuho, Bank of New York Mellon, Nomura, Barclays, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Citi, SBI Group, SEB, Commerzbank, Societe Generale, Credit Suisse, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC, US Bank, ING, UBS and Wells Fargo.
David Rutter, CEO of R3, says: “This investment is unprecedented. Many of the world’s largest financial firms have come together not just with capital support, but with a robust commitment to work with R3 in developing industry solutions that will be the building blocks of the new financial services infrastructure. We’ve got unparalleled momentum.”
The first two tranches of the Series A round were made available only to R3 members, while the third and final tranche – which opens later this year – will be accessible to R3 members and non-R3 institutional investors.
R3 will use the funds to accelerate technology development and expand partnerships for product deployment. The company says its efforts will be focused on Corda, its DLT platform for regulated financial institutions, and its infrastructure network.
With this latest development, R3 is very keen to stress its growth. R3 states that since the launch of its DLT initiative in September 2015, R3 has grown from a staff of eight with nine bank members to a team of over 110 people serving over 80 financial institutions and regulators on six continents. It is also supported by over 2,000 technology, financial, and legal experts drawn from its global member base.
