$200M Raised by Ripple in Series C Funding Round
- The new funding round was led by alternative asset investment firm Tetragon, and saw participation from SBI Holdings and Route 66 Ventures.
- The company claimed that 2019 was its “strongest year of growth”, with it having customers in over 45 countries.
Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse. Ripple Coin News
The blockchain-based payments firm behind XRP, Ripple, has completed a $200 million Series C funding round led by closed-ended investment company Tetragon, Ripple announced on 20 December.
According to the announcement, the new funding round was also joined by Japan’s SBI Holdings and venture capital firm Route 66 Ventures. The raised capital will go towards improving the company’s global payments network, and broadening the utility of its XRP cryptocurrency.
In order to “better serve” its customers and partners, Ripple plans to use the investment to draw new international talent to meet the market demand.
The company has also stated that its new partners will allow it to grow its business, by providing it with “invaluable industry insight and expertise”. Claiming that 2019 has been Ripple’s “strongest year of growth”, the company’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse said:
“We are in a strong financial position to execute against our vision. As others in the blockchain space have slowed their growth or even shut down, we have accelerated our momentum and industry leadership throughout 2019.”
The company has also claimed that in 2019 it grew to have customers in over 45 countries across six continents, and that the clients that use its global payments network, RippleNet, have increased to more than 300.
In June, the firm entered into a partnership with MoneyGram, which allowed the remittances firm to use XRP and xRapid, Ripple’s payment network, as a back office method for their settlement operations.
As part of the deal, Ripple bought $30 million of the MoneyGram’s stock, and later in November, acquired an additional $20 million of MoneyGram’s equity, which completed its original $50 million commitment.
- A federal judge ruled that the sale of XRP through exchanges and algorithms did not qualify as selling securities, which could have a major impact on several SEC lawsuits.
- The institutional sale of the token, however, did violate federal securities laws, and the lawsuit between the SEC and Ripple will have to go to trial.
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- These documents are seen as central in Ripple’s battle against the SEC, which in 2020 accused the company of selling its XRP token without registering it as a security.
- The documents in question are internal emails, text messages, and expert reports that followed Hinman’s 2018 speech, in which he said ETH and BTC were not securities.
- The exchange argues that the SEC failed to provide a “fair notice” that selling XRP was illegal, and that it previously made public statements that those transactions were lawful.
- Coinbase also pointed out that the SEC is yet to provide clear guidance to crypto businesses, and that it keeps being inconsistent about its enforcement approach.