Here’s what you need to know today in startup and venture news, updated by the Crunchbase News staff throughout the day to keep you in the know.
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BlockFi valued at $3B after $350M Series D
Financial services company BlockFi, which provides zero-fee trading and crypto-based interest accounts, announced $350 million in Series D funding, co-led by Bain Capital Ventures, partners of DST Global, Pomp Investments and Tiger Global, to give the company a $3 billion valuation.
Additional backers in the round include Valar Ventures, Breyer Capital, Susquehanna Government Products, Jump Capital and Paradigm. The $350 million round follows three prior rounds totaling $100 million within the last two years. The most recent was a $50 million Series C round last August, led by Morgan Creek Digital, to continue developing products for cryptocurrencies. In total, BlockFi has raised just over $508 million in known investments, according to Crunchbase data.
The Jersey City, New Jersey-based company was founded by Zac Prince and Flori Marquez in 2017 and offers a suite of financial products that seamlessly interact with one another, enabling clients to build and manage wealth through digital asset investments.
Since the end of 2019, BlockFi has seen its client base grow from 10,000 to more than 225,000 today. Monthly revenue currently exceeds $50 million, and the company now boasts more than $15 billion in assets on its platform, with a 0 percent loss rate across its lending portfolio since inception. The company has grown its team to over 500 people worldwide.
— Christine Hall
Coupang prices IPO above range
South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang priced shares for its upcoming IPO at $35, above the projected range of $32 to $34. The offering raised $4.6 billion for the company, which is slated to begin trading on NYSE under the ticker symbol CPNG.
— Joanna Glasner
Funding rounds
Hi Marley lands $25M for communication platform: Boston-based Hi Marley, developer of a smart short-messaging platform built for the insurance industry, announced that it has closed a $25 million Series B financing round led by Emergence Capital1. The startup plans to use the financing to add new features, enhance scalability and beef up its engineering, sales and customer-facing teams.
— Joanna Glasner
Fintech
FalconX, River Financial raise rounds: FalconX, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency financial services company, announced a $50 million investment led by Tiger Global and B Capital Group. It gives the company $67 million in total known funding following a $17 million seed round last May, according to Crunchbase data. FalconX provides institutions trading, credit and clearing, and over the past year, grew its net revenue 46 times, driven by “increased demand for cryptocurrencies from institutional investors seeking an inflationary hedge in an unprecedented macroeconomic environment,” the company said. The new funds will also be used to build out the team and expand business lines.
San Francisco-based Bitcoin financial services provider River Financial closed on a $12 million Series A round, led by Goldcrest Capital. Cousins Alex Leishman and Andrew Benson founded the company in early 2019 to offer a place for people to buy, sell, store and manage Bitcoin. It previously raised $5.7 million in seed funding last June to give it $17.7 million in known funding. After hitting an all-time high back in February, the price of Bitcoin has ridden a roller coaster the past month to sit at approximately $56,658.
— Christine Hall
Hospitality
Rock Paper Coin inks $1.625M: Rock Paper Coin, a Portland, Oregon-based collaboration and payments tool for wedding and event professionals, brought in $1.63 million in funding led by XYZ Venture Capital, as well as Cascade Seed Fund and Jake Silverstein. Rock Paper Coin’s B2B software offers digital contracts, invoices and payments for anyone who is transacting in the wedding industry. Since launching at the end of 2019, the company has processed more than $1.8 million in transactions, much of it in 2020, despite the event industry coming to a halt during the global pandemic.
Gather Town, a social gathering and communication platform described as “Minecraft meets Zoom,” that covers every facet of real life, raised $26 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Index and YC Continuity.
— Christine Hall
Venture Capital
High Alpha Capital Raises New $110M Fund: Indianapolis-based High Alpha Capital closed its third fund, a new $110 million fund targeting enterprise cloud companies. The new fund will be used to invest in pre-seed, seed and Series A rounds. High Alpha has raised more than $215 million across its three funds and its investments include companies such as Attentive, SalesLoft and Zylo.
— Chris Metinko
Health care
HelloSelf secures $7.6M for online therapy: London-based HelloSelf raised a £5.5M Series A round ($7.6 million), led by OMERS Ventures, to provide individuals and organizations with personalized digital therapy services. The new round gives the company $11.2 million in known funding, according to Crunchbase data. Charles Wells founded the company in 2018 to offer online therapy and psychological coaching that uses an app-based platform for automated reminders, encouragement and video sessions. HelloSelf currently has a team of more than 150 clinical psychologists, engineers and developers, and provides coaching and treatment to over 1,500 members. Investment in mental health-focused startups has increased since 2017. The Crunchbase dataset shows 301 known venture deals since 2016 in U.S. startups working in mental health. During that time, investors pumped nearly $2.6 billion into these companies.
— Christine Hall
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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