BlockFi, a financial services company dedicated to building a bridge between cryptocurrencies and traditional financial and wealth management products, today announced the completion of its Series D fundraising round, which was led by new investors including Bain Capital Ventures, partners of DST Global, Pomp Investments, and Tiger Global. The $350 million round follows three prior rounds totaling $100M within the last two years, and includes participation from Susquehanna Government Products, LLLP, Bracket Capital, Paradigm, Valar Ventures, Morgan Creek Digital, Akuna Capital, PJC, Hudson River Trading, ParaFi Capital, Jump Capital, Pacific Century Group, Gaingels, Third Prime, Kenetic, CMS Holdings, Breyer Capital, The Venture Collective, and Castle Island Ventures.
BlockFi’s Series D round values the company at $3 billion and will enable further innovation in the product suite, accelerate expansion into new markets, and provide capital for select acquisition opportunities. These activities will augment the current core product offering, which includes: (i) earning yield on digital assets at attractive rates; (ii) buying and selling digital assets directly on BlockFi (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Link, Litecoin, PaxG, and multiple stablecoins); and (iii) originating US dollar loans secured by the value of digital assets on the platform. Additionally, BlockFi is a leading lender and provider of trade execution services to institutions participating in digital asset markets.
The company recently added multiple senior executives and announced a number of retail and institutional investor-focused products and initiatives, including: a Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card; the BlockFi Bitcoin Trust; an OTC trading desk; and Private Client Services in Asia. In addition, BlockFi employees who have been employed for more than one year have the opportunity to receive liquidity on a portion of their equity via a secondary tender offer as part of this financing round.
Investor enthusiasm for the Series D round reflects both the company’s strong business growth as well as broader conviction in cryptocurrencies as an asset class. Individual investors, institutional asset managers, and corporate treasury departments are all exploring avenues to invest in cryptocurrencies. BlockFi, whose executives have backgrounds in both traditional finance and digital assets, serves an important role for investors entering the asset class.
“In less than six months since we completed our Series C, bitcoin and other digital assets have assumed a central role in many investors’ portfolios and in broader financial markets. Our conviction that digital assets are the future of finance has been vindicated by our client base, which grew 10x YoY in 2020 and has more than doubled since the end of 2020,” said Zac Prince, CEO and Co-Founder of BlockFi. “Digital assets will continue to democratize finance, serve as a hedge against inflation and expansionary monetary policy, and promote innovation in financial technology and accessibility to financial services.”
“Our goal for BlockFi has always been for it to facilitate cryptocurrencies going mainstream and each day provides more evidence that is exactly what is occurring,” added Flori Marquez, Senior Vice President of Operations and Co-Founder of BlockFi. “I’m incredibly proud of how quickly we have added new professionals and products to meet market demand, and excited to continue adding talent and products in the months ahead.”
“We are in the early innings of retail and institutional crypto adoption; as demand grows, we see an enormous opportunity for crypto companies to offer a suite of sophisticated, scalable financial services to engage and empower clients,” said Stefan Cohen, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. “BlockFi has solidified itself as a category winner built on superior products, a world-class team, and a brand of trust and reliability for investors and borrowers. We couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with the company to accelerate its growth globally and seize one of the most important opportunities of our time in shaping the future of finance.”
Since its Series C, BlockFi has focused heavily on adding world-class talent to its leadership team, all of whom come from respected financial institutions. Among the company’s recent additions are Tony Lauro as Chief Financial Officer (Intermex, JP Morgan Chase Commerce Solutions), Andrew Tam as Senior Vice President of Marketing (Credit Karma, Apartment List, and Ares Private Equity), Greg Collett as Head of Investment Products (World Gold Council, Deutsche Bank), Rishi Ramchandani as Director of Business Development for Asia (Bank of America Merrill Lynch), and Lei Lei as Director of Institutional Sales-Real Money Clients (Deutsche Bank, Nomura).
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% loss rate across its lending portfolio since inception. The company has grown its team to over 500 people worldwide.