PayPal and Visa led a $300 million fundraising round in Blockchain Capital on June 22nd. The venture capital firm announced in a press release that funding of Blockchain Capital V, LP had closed. The fundraising had participation from strategic investors and pension funds. Major university endowments and family offices from around the world also participated in the round.
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The fund was heavily oversubscribed at its $300 million hard caps.
Blockchain Capital is the first venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on blockchain technology and the crypto ecosystem. Founded in 2013, the firm has invested in over 110 companies, protocols, and crypto-assets. With investments in leading market leaders like Coinbase, Kraken, and Anchorage.
PayPal, Visa, And Blockchain Technology
PayPal announced back in 2020 that they were launching a product that would allow their customers to buy, sell, and hold crypto. The company added that they had plans to significantly increase crypto utility for their users. Making crypto a funding source.
At the end of March 2021, PayPal rolled out its “Checkout With Crypto” feature for its US users.
This feature allows users to pay at over 26 million merchants with crypto. The supported coins included Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
PayPal does this through a decentralized network and distributed ledger technology. Commonly known as a blockchain.
Total crypto market cap | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com
Visa started its blockchain journey in 2015 when the technology was beginning to gain more popularity.
The payments giant made an investment in Chain when the latter had its equity fundraising round in September 2015.
In October of 2016, Visa made announced that they were previewing Visa B2B Connect in collaboration with Chain. This was to offer financial institutions secure, cost-effective, and fast ways to make payments. Visa B2B Connect was built on Chain Core.
On their website, Visa lists numerous blockchain products that they’re working with. Visa believes that blockchain is the future of money transfers.
The best way to ensure that transactions are safe and secure. Offering transparency of the whole process.
Blockchain Capital Mission
With the funding raised, Blockchain Capital plans to continue its nearly decade-long mission of partnering with industry-leading founders.
They will continue to help them grow their businesses and infrastructures.
Blockchain infrastructure remains the main focus of the venture firm. DeFi, NFTs, and emerging blockchain applications are of particular interest to the firm.
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“As founders ourselves, we know how hard it is to build companies, protocols, And indeed, a whole new industry.”
– Bart Stephens, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Blockchain Capital.
Feature image from Ledger Insights, chart from TradingView.com