ConsenSys announ
New investors also joined, like Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, and C Ventures. Series C investors — Third Point, Marshall Wace, TRUE Capital Management, and United Talent Agency’s venture fund — also participated in this round. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP acted as ConsenSys’ legal advisor in this transaction.
ConsenSys’ MetaMask impressive market growth
ConsenSys has been a pioneer in creating the foundational software for the next wave of the internet, Web3. Our mission is to unlock the collaborative power of communities by making DAOs, NFTs, and DeFi universally easy to use, access, and build on.
The acceleration of Web3 adoption is also illustrated by the rise of leading self-custodial wallet, MetaMask, which now supports more than 30 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs).
Users rely on MetaMask to mint and collect NFTs, join DAOs, and participate in DeFi protocols. The U.S, Philippines, Brazil, Germany and Nigeria are MetaMask’s most active markets.
All Proceeds from the round will be converted to ETH to rebalance the ETH to USD-equivalents ratio in line with ConsenSys’ treasury strategy. This further builds ConsenSys’ “ultra sound money” position in advance of Ethereum’s upcoming merge to Proof of Stake.
ConsenSys’ market growth strategy
ConsenSys 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.
Joseph Lubin, Founder and CEO of ConsenSys said, “I think of ConsenSys as a deep capabilities machine for the decentralized protocols ecosystem, able to capitalize at scale on fundamental new constructs that emerge, such as developer tooling, tokenization, token launches, wallets, security audits, DeFi, NFTs, bridges, Layer-2 scaling, DAOs, and more.”
“This view resonates with our crypto growth investors in a Series D to enable us execute powerful growth strategies. This round takes in digital assets and fiat and converts to ETH.”
“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.”
ConsenSys’ latest fund to support MetaMask expansion
Funding will also support the rapid expansion of MetaMask with a major redesign scheduled for release later in 2022, as well as the roll out 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’ recent acquisition of MyCrypto, enabling MetaMask to bolster its industry-leading security infrastructure and create a cohesive user experience across desktop, mobile, extension, and browser wallets.
ConsenSys will also 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, sports leagues, and other stakeholders.
ConsenSys to increase headcount
With nearly 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. ConsenSys 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 scores continue to trend, reaching 91% in the last survey. ConsenSys is proud to be a major driver of the transformation to the “age of community.”
“ConsenSys has emerged as one of the most important companies in the blockchain space,”said ParaFi Capital Founder and Managing Partner, Ben Forman.
“MetaMask is the gateway for over 30m users to access web3 and DeFi applications, making it one of the most used blockchain products in the world for consumers and businesses.”
“As a long-time user of ConsenSys’ products, ParaFi is thrilled to be an investor and thought partner as the company continues to operate at the forefront of decentralized infrastructure.”
Neil Cunha-Gomes, investor for SoftBank Investment Advisers said, “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 to use, neutral, and secure Web3 continues to foster unique engagement and we’re excited to help take Web3 adoption to the next level.”
