A Series F fundraising round headed by GIC, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, netted $170 million for Chainalysis, a business that offers services for crypto investigation and compliance. The company’s valuation increased from its round in June to $8.6 billion as a result of its reputation for assisting law authorities in locating illegal cryptocurrency activity. The funding announcement, which was originally reported by The Information citing a source, comes as investors are trying to process the collapse of the cryptocurrency market. With bitcoin trading below the $30,000 barrier on Monday, the total market value of cryptocurrencies has plunged to a 10-month low.
The company has previously secured $366 million from backers like Benchmark, Accel, Paradigm, and Coatue. In order to “double down” on its APAC footprint, it launched offices in Singapore and Tokyo in 2020. As of now, it serves over 750 clients across over 70 countries, including government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and cybersecurity firms. Growth has been excellent. Chainalysis has increased its workforce by more than 200 percent in the last year, reaching 700 people. Additionally, more customers are writing bigger checks: from 80 to 150 businesses now generate more than $100k in recurring income annually.
Chainalysis was most recently credited for assisting journalist Laura Shin in finding the culprit in the 2016 DAO breach that resulted in the loss of $11 billion in ether. Although as of the first quarter, things were still looking good, some investors were concerned that the cryptocurrency crisis may cool the fundraising enthusiasm in the industry. According to Cointelegraph Research, approximately $14.6 billion was invested in web3 businesses, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and crypto infrastructure in the first quarter, making up close to half of the total financing for the previous year.
Indeed, recent years have witnessed a number of enormous fundraising rounds. Amber Group, a Singapore-based business in the cryptocurrency trading and asset management space, is apparently receiving fresh funding at a $10 billion valuation; just 11 months prior, it had achieved unicorn status in a $100 million fundraising round. In a $150 million fundraising announced this week, cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin’s valuation soared to $10 billion.
