A collection of recent funding news from the cryptocurrency ecosystem shows that despite record amounts of money raised by ICOs, the traditional route of raising funds from venture capital firms is still going strong. And cryptocurrency exchanges are involved both as investment targets and investors.
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Chinese Crypto Wallet Imtoken Raises $10 Million to Expand Internationally
Venture firm IDG Capital has invested $10 million in the Series A funding round by Imtoken, a Chinese startup behind a cryptocurrency wallet app reportedly used by 4 million people. The two sides have yet to disclose any details of the company’s financials or its valuation following the round.
The founder of the wallet company, Ben He, told Bloomberg that IDG’s investment will be used to fund an expansion beyond its home market of China, where 70% of users still come from. The plans include opening a new office in Singapore and hiring more staff, after it already tripled to 30 people over the last ago. Further according to the report, Imtoken also plans to expand its services for institutional investors following the development of new security features.
Itbit (Paxos) Raises $65 Million
Paxos, the New York-based company behind institutional bitcoin exchange Itbit, has announced on Thursday it has raised $65 million from investors including venture capital firms RRE Ventures and Liberty City Ventures. In May 2015, the company obtained a trust company charter and opened the first regulated bitcoin exchange in the US. Itbit offers bitcoin traders access to both a global exchange and OTC trading desk.
Paxos plans to use the new $65 million in funding to expand its operations. “We will use the capital to help grow the business which is broadly our settlement business on the Paxos side and the crypto asset exchange and custodian on the itBit side,” Chief Executive Charles Cascarilla said.
$1 Billion Binance Fund
Besides established VC funds, elements from within the crypto ecosystem are also choosing to support the development of other startups. Exchanges for example, who made an absolute killing in 2017, have gotten into the action. The most notable of these is Binance, which recently announced a $1 billion Community Influence Fund and another Binance Ecosystem Fund with 20 future partners.
And yesterday we reported that, Huobi has joined forces with Chinese VC New Margin Capital and Korean online brokerage Kiwoom Securities to jointly launch a 100 billion won ($93 million) investment fund.
What do these developments mean for crypto startup companies? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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