Paxos Attracts $300M as Flurry of Capital is Raised by Various Companies

Over the past week, various companies have successfully closed funding rounds.  The capital raised was done so on the back of growing interest in blockchain technologies, with Paxos leading the way.

Paxos

$2.4 billion – This is the new valuation of Paxos after this week’s successful funding round, which saw the company bring in a fresh $300 million in capital.  At this valuation, Paxos has officially joined a growing list of FinTech ‘unicorns’, which includes names such as Revolut, RobinHood, WealthSimple, and more.

Paxos was able to achieve this lofty valuation on the back of a successful year which saw key partnerships (with companies like PayPal and Venmo) propel it in to the limelight.

Paxos has already earmarked these funds for use in a few key areas.  The company states that it, “will continue investing in the development of enterprise-grade infrastructure while deepening its commitment to regulation, reliability and security.”

The company lists the following as steps which will be taken to achieve its goals.

• Hire new employees to scale operations
• Increase liquidity across its platform
• Establish ‘Paxos National Trust Bank’
• Attain registration from SEC as a ‘Clearing Agency’
• Attain licensure in Singapore as a ‘Major Payment Institution’

In this particular round of funding, a few key investors stood out from the pack – various of which are repeat investors from previous rounds.

• PayPal
• WestCap
• Mithril Capital

Alchemy

The $69 million NFT sale which caught the attention of the masses in March was made possible through the actions of a few services – one of which is known as Alchemy.  This company, which specializes in developing services to support the burgeoning NFT market, has now garnered a hearty amount of attention itself from investors.  This has resulted in a successful funding round which saw Alchemy bring in $80 million in its Series B.

While the investor list for this round was headlined by Addition Capital, and Coatue, there was a noticeable role played by celebrities, sporting families, and musicians – a clear indicator that such industries are keeping a close watch on the development of the NFT sector.

• Jared Leto (Academy Award Winning Actor)
• The Chainsmokers (Grammy Winning Band)
• Glazer Family (Owner of both Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Manchester United)

The aforementioned investors will no doubt have recognized the role that Alchemy has played in various NFT endeavours, including NBA Top Shot, OpenSea, and more.

Globe Derivative Exchange (GlobeDX)

As it has yet to launch, the name GlobeDX might be relatively unknown.  Blockchain investors however, are clearly excited for the platform to go live in the coming weeks, as various contributors have taken part in funding round totaling $18 million.

Investors which took part in this round of funding include,

• CMT Digital
• Draper Dragon
• OKEx
• Pantera Capital
• Republic Crypto
• Wave Financial
• Y Combinator

The GlobeDX platform, which is expected to launch within a month, will act as a ‘derivatives trading platform’.  The company touts 100x leverage, DeFi and Crypto trading, and ‘global access to perpetual futures’, are a few of the key features which will allow it to attain its goal of being ‘best-in-class’.

Notional Finance

Crypto based lending services continue to remain popular.  Notional Finance highlights this trend, as it was just able to close a round of funding which saw $10 million generated.

Investors which took part in this round of funding include,

• 1Confirmation
• Nascent
• Nima Capital
• Spartan Group
• Pantera Capital
• Parafi

Moving forward, Notional Finance states that these funds will be used to “build a world-class team of finance and technology experts.”  It notes that this will, “enable us to strengthen our position as the leader in fixed interest rate borrowing and lending on Ethereum.”

Lobus

Blockchain has opened the door to many new financial possibilities – one of which is fractionalized ownership.  This capability allows for liquidity to be found in assets which traditionally lack it.  In the case of Lobus, valuable art can be sold in pieces with the seller able to retain rights to a share of profits in future sales.  The promise of this capability has resulted in a growing interest in companies which offer it, such as Lobus.  As a result, Lobus was just able to raise $6 million in funding from a variety of investors including, but not limited to,

• BoostVC
• Dream Machine
• Franklin Templeton

With this funding, Lobus looks to continue building out its platform and presence.  While it relies on blockchain, TechCrunch states that Lobus, “…has been removing the complexities of understanding what the blockchain is and instead focusing on what their tech can deliver to their network of art owners.”