cryptovibes.com
Blockchain research firm Chainalysis became the latest unicorn in the crypto industry by raising $100 million in Series C funding led by Addition. The VC firm is led by a former top investor at Tiger, Lee Fixel.
Billion-dollar valuation
With the latest fundraise, Chainalysis’s valuation has gone up to $1 billion. This private valuation raises the six-year-old firm to the league of “unicorns.” The funding round was led by Addition, a new VC firm led by former Tiger Global Management top investor Lee Fixel. In addition, raised over $1.3 billion in June to invest in technology companies. Other firms that invested in Chainalysis include previous stakeholders -Ribbit, Benchmark, and Accel.
The company closed its Series B round of funding with an additional $13 million in funding four months ago. The company initially received a $30 million funding, led by Accel in February 2019. It went on to raise another $6 million from two big-ticket Japanese investors in April.
Michael Gronager, Chainalysis CEO and co-founder,
“We think that the timing, the market, and the maturity of the crypto space will offer some consolidation, where there might be some inorganic growth that might be on the table.”
Chainalysis’ journey through the six years
Chainalysis currently employs 75 people in its three offices in Copenhagen, Washington DC, and New York. It provides support for law enforcement with a platform to detect and investigate crypto frauds, compliance violations, and money laundering. Its clients include crypto exchanges and financial institutions. It also sells compliance software and Bitcoin-tracing technology to brokers and banks to help them monitor and link digital identities to digital coins.
The blockchain intelligence platform said last month that it has increased its number of customers by 65% on a yearly basis, due to the increasing demand for its technology from public sector agencies. It also said that the firm’s quarterly revenue during the July-September period doubled.
US authorities have been working closely with Chainalysis. to seize over $1 billion in Bitcoin associated with the infamous dark web marketplace called Silk Road. According to the Department of Justice, Chainalysis helps in identifying and investigating wallets associated with the marketplace that went down in 2013.