On Tuesday, ConsenSys, the leading Ethereum and decentralized protocols software company with product suites such as MetaMask, Infura and Truffle, announced the close of a $450 million Series D funding round led by ParaFi Capital. Notable new investors included Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures and C Ventures. The deal more than doubles its valuation since the firm’s $200 million Series C raise in November 2021.
Proceeds from the round will, in part, be converted to Ether (ETH) to rebalance the ratio of ETH to USD-equivalents in ConsenSys’ treasury. The firm actively seeks to use its own financial infrastructure to earn yields on such assets in decentralized finance, or DeFi, protocols and via staking. The proceeds will also support the expansion of MetaMask with a major redesign scheduled for release later in 2022 and the roll-out of a plug-in extensibility system that will allow integration with a wide variety of blockchain protocols and account security schemes.
Back in January, MetaMask surpassed 30 million monthly active users, representing an increase of 42% in four months. With the wallet, users can mint and collect nonfungible tokens, join decentralized autonomous organizations, and participate in DeFi protocols. Meanwhile, more than 430,000 developers are using the Ethereum development platform Infura. Its Ethereum API now supports more than $1 trillion in annualized on-chain ETH transaction volume.
Joseph Lubin, founder and CEO of ConsenSys, gave the following remarks regarding the development:
I think of ConsenSys as a broad and deep capabilities machine for the decentralized protocols ecosystem, able to rapidly capitalize at scale on fundamental new constructs that emerge. […] This view has resonated with our crypto native and growth investors in a Series D that will enable us to execute powerful growth strategies.
Today, @ConsenSys announced the close of a $450 million USD financing round, bringing its valuation to $7 billion USD. If you’re interested in joining us we’ll be hiring over 600 new employees globally over the next year. Check out our open roles and apply today!
— Dror Avieli (@avieli) March 15, 2022