Intangible Labs, a New York startup that is developing an adjustable-supply cryptocurrency using an algorithmic central bank, raised a whopping $133 million in a Series B funding round that included Silicon Valley venture capitalists and Wall Street fixtures.
Bain Capital Ventures led the latest funding round, per a Reuters report. Other high profile investors included Google's venture arm GV, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and Lightspeed Foundation Capital.
According to an SEC filing, 225 accredited investors participated in the round which was structured as a private placement.
The $133 million haul is a hefty sum for a company that just started a few months ago and even considers raising more funds through an initial coin offering (ICO), just after it assesses the current regulatory environment.
The fundraising will help the Blockchain startup scale its platform, which aims to develop a cryptocurrency called Basis (formerly Basecoin). Unlike fixed-supply Cryptocurrencies , the Basis protocol is designed to expand and contract supply similarly to the way central banks use to intervene in forex markets to stabilize its national currency.
The cryptocurrency aims to keep its price stable by algorithmically adjusting supply. The platform will issue more tokens when demand is rising and will buy back the coin when the supply increases to restore Basis price.
“If you have a Basecoin, it’ll be worth $1 today; it’ll be worth $1 tomorrow; it’ll be worth $1 forever,” Intangible Labs CEO and co-founder Nader Al-Naji said.
"Volatility of cryptocurrencies has prevented their widespread adoption. We are trying to build cryptocurrencies that have all the benefits of crypto but is stable," he told Reuters in an interview last year.
Intangible Labs was created by three Princeton University computer science graduates. Aside from Al-Naji, the other founders of Intangible Labs are former Princeton classmates Lawrence Diao and Josh Chen.
