ConsenSys, the parent company of the popular MetaMask digital wallet, has just seen its valuation surpass $7 billion following a $450 million fundraising round from multiple investors. The company plans to make significant improvements to MetaMask and wants to focus on the wider adoption of Ether among its users.
ConsenSys sees its valuation rise to $7 billion
Blockchain technology company ConsenSys, best known for its popular MetaMask wallet, has just closed a Series D round of funding. $450 million was raised, raising the company’s valuation to over $7 billion.
The round was led by investment fund ParaFi Capital alongside groups such as SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, C Ventures, Temasek and Microsoft. Other participants in the previous round were also involved in this new investment.
Today, ConsenSys announced the close of a $450 million USD financing round, bringing its valuation to $7 billion USD. https://t.co/e2huMcEyIZ
– ConsenSys (@ConsenSys) March 15, 2022
According to Joe Lubin, CEO of ConsenSys, the new addition will give the company new tools to improve on all fronts:
I see ConsenSys as a very broad capability machine for the decentralised protocol ecosystem, able to quickly capitalise on important new projects that are emerging, such as developer tools, wallets, security audits, DeFi, NFTs, layer 2, DAOs and more. This vision has resonated with our cryptocurrency investors through a Series D round that will allow us to pursue exciting growth strategies. “
Plans for MetaMask, but not only
Like its MetaMask wallet, ConsenSys likes to grow around the Ethereum blockchain (ETH). And as proof, the entirety of this capital injection will be transformed into Ethers as a “cash flow strategy”.
For Joe Lubin, Ethereum is part of a large-scale paradigm shift. As such, he said the next round of funding will be aimed at helping his investors adopt Ether as their primary currency.
The funding will also allow the MetaMask application to be developed in several ways. Firstly, a major graphical redesign of the application is planned for 2022, as well as the integration of a new system that will extend the compatibility of the popular wallet.
These changes will build on ConsenSys’ acquisition of MyCrypto last February to improve its security and also to enhance the user experience across media. In parallel, ConsenSys will take advantage of this new capital injection to improve Infura, a solution that provides APIs dedicated to the Ethereum blockchain to developers.
Finally, in order to consolidate its internal structure, ConsenSys wants to increase its staff from 700 to 1,000 by the end of the year.
All these new measures will be welcome, especially for MetaMask users whose number is constantly increasing. Indeed, it has increased by 42% in a few months at the end of the year 2021, to 30 million, as Ben Forman, the founder of ParaFi Capital, reminded us:
ConsenSys has established itself as one of the most important companies in the blockchain ecosystem. In particular with MetaMask, the gateway that enables over 30 million users to access Web 3.0 and DeFi capabilities every month, making it one of the most widely used blockchain products in the world by both consumers and professionals. “
