Web3 pioneer ConsenSys announced the close of a US$450M financing round effectively increasing its valuation to US$7B. ParaFi Capital led this raise after participating in ConsenSys’ Series C round in November 2021. They were joined by new investors, including Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, and C Ventures. Series C investors — Third Point, Marshall Wace, True Capital Management, and UTA VC, United Talent Agency’s venture fund — also participated in this round. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP acted as ConsenSys’ legal advisor in this transaction.
ConsenSys has been a pioneer in creating the foundational software for the next wave of the internet (Web3) with its mission of unlocking the collaborative power of communities by making DAOs, NFTs, and DeFi universally easy to use, access, and build on.
The acceleration of Web3 adoption globally is also illustrated by the rise of the leading self-custodial wallet, MetaMask, which now supports more than 30 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs), growing 42% in only four months. A global user base relies on MetaMask to mint and collect NFTs, join DAOs, and participate in DeFi protocols. The United States, the Philippines, Brazil, Germany and Nigeria represent some of MetaMask’s most active markets.
ConsenSys will convert all proceeds from the funding round to ETH to further build its “ultrasound money” position as a rebalance to its ETH to fiat ratio in line with its treasury strategy. The fintech company has long maintained a significant treasury of ETH, stablecoins, and other crypto tokens, and is actively using its own financial infrastructure, such as MetaMask Institutional and Codefi Staking, to put these assets to work in DeFi protocols and via staking in anticipation of Ethereum’s upcoming merge to Proof of Stake.
“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, such as developer tooling, wallets, security audits, DeFi, NFTs, Layer-2 scaling, DAOs, and more. This view has resonated with our crypto native and growth investors in a Series D that will enable us to execute exciting growth strategies. This round takes in digital assets as well as fiat and converts all immediately to ETH. The next round will be our ‘Series ETH’ where we will assist investors in getting fully crypto native and contributing ETH as a symbol of and commitment to the ongoing paradigm shift,” according to Joseph Lubin, Founder and CEO of ConsenSys.
Funding will also support the rapid expansion of MetaMask with a major redesign scheduled for release later in 2022, as well as the rollout of a plug-in extensibility system that will allow integration with a wide variety of blockchain protocols and account security schemes. This roadmap expansion also builds on ConsenSys’s recent acquisition of MyCrypto, which will enable MetaMask to bolster its industry-leading security infrastructure and create a cohesive user experience across desktop, mobile, extension, and browser wallets.
Funding will be used to accelerate the global adoption of Infura’s development tool suite as well as ConsenSys’s efforts to drive NFT adoption for artists, content creators, brands, intellectual property owners, game publishers, and sports leagues.
“ConsenSys has emerged as one of the most important companies in the blockchain space,” said ParaFi Capital Founder and Managing Partner, Ben Forman. “In particular, Metamask is the gateway for over 30 million users to access web3 and DeFi applications every month, making it one of the most widely used blockchain products in the world for consumers and businesses. As a long-time power user of ConsenSys’ products and services, ParaFi is thrilled to be an investor and thought partner as the company continues to operate at the forefront of decentralized infrastructure.”
With almost 700 full-time employees at present, ConsenSys’ hiring will surge this year as it is on track to scale to over 1,000 employees by the end of 2022. The company maintains a core objective to be an industry leader when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion, partnering with organizations like Work180, CryptoChicks, and the Black Women Blockchain Council. Since September 2020 ConsenSys has increased gender balance in the workforce from 19% to 25% as of December 2021. Its belonging scores also continue to trend up, reaching 91% in the latest survey. ConsenSys is proud to be a major driver of the transformation to the “age of community.”
“We’re delighted to partner with Joe and the team in their mission to power access to the decentralized web. We believe ConsenSys’ ecosystem of simple, neutral, and secure Web3 products continues to foster unprecedented levels of engagement and we’re excited to help them take Web3 adoption to the next level,” said Neil Cunha-Gomes, Investor for SoftBank Investment Advisers.