Circle Reportedly Planning to Raise Further $250 Million

Circle Internet Financial is reportedly aiming to raise another $250 million in funding.

As reported by The Information on March 2, the crypto finance startup is seeking to raise the funds in a combination of equity and debt.

The Boston-headquartered company has already raised around $246 million till now, according to Crunchbase.

In its last funding round led by Bitmain in May last year, Circle raised $110 million after which it was valued at $3 billion. Apart from the Chinese crypto mining giant, major venture capital firms including Accel, Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group, IDG, and Pantera also participated in the Series E funding round.

Other lead investors of the company are Goldman Sachs, IDG Capital, and Breyer Capital.

Making of a Crypto Conglomerate

Last year, Circle made a major move in the digital asset market by acquiring Poloniex, one of the leading global cryptocurrency exchanges, for an estimated value of $400 million.

The Goldman Sachs-backed firm also provides an over-the-counter (OTC) trading service for Cryptocurrencies to its institutional clients through its Circle Invest app.

In a yearly report posted by the company in January, Circle revealed that it handled more than $24 billion in cryptocurrency trades in 2018. However, according to reports, the platform's revenue was hit by the slow down in the crypto market.

Circle last year also jumped into the lucrative business of stablecoins and introduced a dollar-pegged digital currency called USDC. Unlike its primary market competitor Tether, the US-based firm adopted a transparent approach and, since the launch of the coin, the company is posting monthly audited reports of its currency chest backing the dollar-pegged currency.

The approach turned out to be a huge success for the company as major crypto exchanges showed interest in making the coin as their base currency.

To survive the wrath of the “crypto winter,” many crypto-based businesses are opting to raise funds with a lower valuation. However, the publication could not reveal Circle’s estimated valuation with the target funding.