Blockchain.com Raises US$300 Million as Investors Find Other Ways Into Bitcoin

Blockchain.com, a London-based firm that provides a variety of cryptocurrency services to retail and institutional clients, raised $300 million in a deal that highlights venture capital’s growing willingness to jump back into the bitcoin frenzy.

The investment round gave the company a US$5.2 billion valuation and was led by DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners and VY Capital. It comes just one month after the company raised $120 million in a funding round that valued it at $3 billion.

Blockchain.com has 31 million verified users across 200 countries and 70 million digital “wallets,” or software used to store bitcoins. The firm offers retail trading and a range of services for professional investors like credit, structured products, trading and custody. Between debt and equity, the company has raised $1.5 billion since its inception in 2011, according to Chief Executive Peter Smith.

It is a significant amount for a crypto company. The latest capital raise is the third-largest in the industry’s short history, according to research firm CB Insights. In 2018, Bitmain Technologies raised $400 million. Earlier this year, BlockFi raised $350 million and in 2020, Bakkt raised $300 million.

Capital raising also stagnated over the past few years as bitcoin’s price fell from its 2017 highs and remained down. After raising $4.5 billion in 2018, deals have declined to $2.7 billion in 2020. Their re-emergence this year, with three of the six largest to date coming in 2021, is spurring hopes that private investors are returning.

They may be followed by public investors. Later this year, Coinbase Global Inc. will launch its highly anticipated initial public offering. The company plans to sell up to 115 million shares on Nasdaq, raising up to $943 million, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If that IPO is successful, other crypto companies are expected to follow. Whether Blockchain.com will be one of them hasn’t been determined. “The company is carefully considering its public-market options,” Mr. Smith said.

Blockchain’s business has more than doubled since the start of the year, Mr. Smith said, amid a boom for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. If the current rate stays constant, he predicted the company’s 2021 profit would hit a record in the “mid-nine digits.”

That is mainly because the price of bitcoin has skyrocketed over the past year. In March 2020, bitcoin fell to around $5,700. On Tuesday, it was trading around $55,000. The gains have been driven by an influx of money from the likes of billionaire investors including Paul Tudor Jones, companies including Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and a new wave of retail, or nonprofessional, investors.

The company plans to use the new capital to hire new employees and to support its institutional business. “The institutional side requires more capital,” Mr. Smith said. “When you’re pitching asset managers they want to see a big balance sheet.”

A new investment fund targeting celebrity-founded consumer brands has secured US$40 million in commitments and is rapidly approaching its US$50 million fundraising target, signalling growing investor appetite for alternative opportunities beyond traditional asset classes.

The Global Talent Fund, which has a maximum raise of US$100 million, focuses on building and investing in consumer businesses alongside celebrities, athletes, and influential personalities who play an active role as co-founders rather than simply endorsing products.

The strategy is based on the belief that changes in consumer behaviour, particularly the rise of social media and digital engagement, have fundamentally altered how brands are built and scaled.

GTF founding partner Jeremy Hunt, who is helping lead the fund’s strategy, said consumers increasingly feel connected to personalities they follow online and are more willing to support products developed by those individuals.

“Consumers are searching for content to engage with, and when a celebrity they like or follow takes them on the journey of creating a product or brand, they genuinely feel part of that process,” he said.

The fund is targeting high-growth consumer sectors including wellness, hydration, beauty and recovery, areas Hunt believes continue to benefit from strong global demand and ongoing innovation.

Rather than backing celebrity endorsement deals, the fund is seeking businesses where talent is deeply involved in product development, brand creation and long-term growth.

According to Hunt, authenticity remains one of the biggest differentiators between successful celebrity-backed brands and those that fail.

“The consumer can see clearly if someone is simply being paid to promote a product,” he said. “The winners are typically the brands where the celebrity has genuinely helped build the business from the ground up.”

The model has attracted support from several prominent Australian investors and business families, reflecting broader interest in alternative investments with global growth potential.

Hunt said consumer brands offered a level of tangibility that many investors found appealing.

“Consumer brands are what we touch, feel, smell and taste every day,” he said. “Our investors understand the growth potential in the model, but they also want to be part of the journey.”

The fund’s rapid progress towards its fundraising target comes amid growing recognition that celebrity influence, when combined with strong commercial execution and scalable business models, can create significant enterprise value.

With several high-profile celebrity-founded businesses generating billion-dollar exits in recent years, supporters of the strategy believe the opportunity remains in its early stages.

Blockchain.com Raises US$300 Million as Investors Find Other Ways Into Bitcoin

The investment round gave the company a US$5.2 billion valuation

With US$40 million already committed, the Global Talent Fund is attracting investor attention with a strategy focused on building globally scalable consumer brands alongside high-profile talent.