Digital currency provider Fire Blocks – a startup based in New York – has managed to raise more than $300 million in new funds, thereby bringing its overall valuation beyond the $2 billion mark in just under half a year.
Fire Blocks Gets Its Hands On a Lot of Money
Fire Blocks came about three years ago in 2018. Just last February, the company managed to secure approximately $133 million for itself through a Series C funding round. During that period, the company’s overall valuation was around $700 million, which is already impressive for a company that hasn’t been around for very long, but things have really picked up since the beginning of 2021. At that time, Fire Blocks saw its customer roster spike to include more than 500 businesses, up by more than 350 from just a few months prior.
In addition, the firm’s ARR (annual recurring revenue) also jumped by more than 350 percent. CEO and co-founder Michael Shaulov explained in an interview that he thinks this is a real turning point for his company, and he projects things are going to be much bigger very soon. He states:
We expect to end the year up 500 percent. We’ve already adjusted our revenue predictions for 2021 three times.
The latest funding round saw firms such as Sequoia Capital, Stripes, SVB Capital and Spark Capital take part. Other firms, such as DRW VC and SBC 10X also contributed funds towards the company’s growth. Fire Blocks further obtained dough from the likes of international monetary institutions such as the Siam Commercial Bank and the Bank of New York Mellon.
Among the company’s most recent customers include global banks, lending firms, hedge funds, OTC desks, and digital currency exchanges. It also provides services to some of the world’s biggest blockchain enterprises including Revolut, Block Fi, Prime Trust, Galaxy Digital, e-Toro, and Genesis Trading.
Staying Committed to One’s Customers
Shaulov commented:
Our platform creates highly secure wallets for cryptocurrencies and digital assets where institutions can store their funds or their customer funds and get security insurance. We handle all the security or compliance, all the policies and workflows. Basically, all the complicated stuff you need to do as a business when you want to start working with this new technology, so it’s a bit like ‘Shopify for crypto.’ The team has the potential to build a large, enduring business serving crypto-native companies, consumer fintech companies and traditional financial institutions alike. Their growth has been tremendous, and the quality of their product and customer sentiment are remarkable.
In addition, Shaulov said that his company plans to remain an independent entity, pointing to recent situations such as PayPal purchasing Curv and Galaxy Digital Holdings buying Bit Go. Fire Blocks, he says, will remain independent of larger firms so that it can stay committed to its goals and prevent “consolidation” pain from hitting its clients.
