ConsenSys, the parent company of the popular digital wallet MetaMask, just saw its valuation surpass $7 billion following a $450 million fundraising round with multiple investors. The company plans to make significant improvements to MetaMask and wants to focus on wider adoption of the 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 funding round. $450 million was raised, bringing the company’s valuation to over $7 billion.
The round was led by investment fund ParaFi Capital alongside groups like SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, C Ventures, Temasek and Microsoft. Other participants in the previous round were also on board for this new investment.
According to Joe Lubin, CEO of ConsenSys, the new funding will give the company new tools to improve on all fronts:
“I see ConsenSys as a very broad capability machine for the decentralized protocol ecosystem, able to quickly capitalize on important new projects that are emerging, such as developer tools, wallets, security audits, DeFi, NFTs, second layers (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
Just like its MetaMask wallet, ConsenSys likes to develop around the Ethereum blockchain (ETH). And as proof, the entirety of this capital injection will be converted into Ethers as a “cash flow strategy”.
For Joe Lubin, Ethereum is part of a large-scale paradigm shift. As such, Lubin said the next round of funding will be aimed at helping his investors adopt Ether as their primary currency.
The funding will also allow for the development of the MetaMask application in several areas. First, a major graphical redesign of the application is planned for sometime in 2022, as well as the integration of a new system that will expand 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 from one medium to another. 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 grow from 700 to 1,000 employees by the end of the year.
So many new measures that will be welcome, especially for MetaMask users whose number is constantly increasing. In fact, it has increased by 42% in a few months at the end of 2021, reaching 30 million, as Ben Forman, founder of ParaFi Capital, reminded:
“ConsenSys has established itself as one of the most important companies in the blockchain ecosystem. In particular with MetaMask, the gateway for more than 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.”
