Ripple Labs is pleased to announce that we have raised $28 million in Series A financing.
The round includes IDG Capital Partners, the venture arm of CME Group (the world’s leading derivatives marketplace), and global data storage company Seagate.
Other new investors include Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures, ChinaRock Capital Management, China Growth Capital, and Wicklow Capital, the investment vehicle for Dan Tierney and Stephen Schuler, co-founders of GETCO (now KCG, one of the world’s largest market makers).
Completing our Series A round provides us significant growth capital to continue supporting our primary vision—enabling money to move as freely, easily, securely, and transparently as information on the web today.
And because Ripple exists at a unique intersection between technology and finance, this mix of traditional venture funds and strategic investors will help us continue building the tools and services that power Ripple, hone in on near term use cases (including not only banking, but also market making and corporate treasury), and further our international presence in key markets like Asia.
“Financial institutions, market makers and corporations are laying the foundation for this Internet of Value, contributing and providing liquidity for global payments. With investors like CME Group and Seagate joining the fold, we’re well positioned to accelerate adoption amongst these key customers,” said Ripple Labs CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen.
From our investors:
Managing a global treasury operation and supply chain finances for one of the world’s largest high-tech storage technology companies puts us in a unique position to understand the frictions and pain points in funds transfer.
With its real-time settlement capabilities, we recognize the opportunity for Ripple to reduce money transfer costs, create transparency, and increase working capital in corporate treasury use cases. Banking and corporate applications are just the tip of the iceberg for a technology like Ripple, and we’re excited to support the team’s pursuit of those opportunities.
—Dave Morton, Senior Vice President, Finance and Treasury at Seagate Technology.
Ripple is transforming global settlement architecture, and its momentum in payments will give way to an expanding portfolio of use cases in the financial markets. Joining this funding round is another example of how we are investing in technologies that impact our industry.
—Rumi Morales, Executive Director, Strategic Investment Group at CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace.
We are excited to build on our relationship with Ripple Labs, especially as they expand their presence in Asia. Growing their influence in key regions like Asia will help activate new markets, further accelerating the use of Ripple as a real-time settlement protocol by the world’s leading financial institutions.
Li Feng, partner at IDG Capital Partners, early investors in Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi and CreditEase
Additional investors participating in this round are Bitcoin Opportunity Corp., Core Innovation Capital, Route 66 Ventures, RRE Ventures, Vast Ventures, and Venture 51.
