sludgefeed.com
Recruit Co., a company described by Bloomberg as the Japanese-equivalent of LinkedIn, Zillow, Yelp, eHarmony, Booking.com, Square and dozens of other apps all rolled into one, announced today that it has completed an investment in Beam Development Limited, the company behind Beam (BEAM).
We are happy to reveal that Japanese public group, Recruit Co. LTD has invested in Beam prior Mainnet. This investment helps Beam fulfill its mission in Japan too when it comes to deploying a compliant, scalable, and confidential cryptocurrency. https://t.co/suw6uaibVt @_tanayuk
— @Beamprivacy (@beamprivacy) February 18, 2019
According to the release, the investment came prior to the launch of Beam’s mainnet in January and was made through Recruit’s $25 million venture fund that is focused solely on blockchain-related companies and projects.
The new fund, called RSP Blockchain Tech Fund Pte. Ltd, is designed to rapidly deploy capital to startups in the blockchain space. Recruit is particularly interested in non-equity funding arrangements and plans to organize token-purchasing agreements to support the growth of the industry as a whole.
Recruit’s investment in Beam was made after the company identified confidentiality in transactions as a key element that could improve blockchain adoption in corporate settings.
“Recruit recognizes the revolutionary impact of blockchain technology in facilitating innovation while preserving confidential data, but at the same time, Recruit understands the need for appropriate government regulation to ensure that this new technology is not abused,” reads the announcement. Recruit adds that it is actively monitoring the regulatory environment for future investment cues.
According to the investment arm’s website, Recruit has made investments in 4 blockchain-related startups to date, including Veem, bitFlyer, ShoCard and Shift.
BEAM is currently down 4% over the last 24 hours to $1.17, giving the privacy coin a market cap of $7.2 million.