“That would be really boring, wouldn’t it?”

July 13, 2020

“That would be really boring, wouldn’t it?” remarked Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam on the company’s upcoming IPO when asked if he would go the conventional IPO route.

Ehrsam qualified his remark by saying that it’s impossible right now to say how or when Coinbase will go public. But clearly an unconventional, blockchain-based IPO has been on his mind.

Just a few years ago, the company and the cryptocurrency industry were shunned by Wall Street banks. Most notably, JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon has time and time again spoken publicly about his skepticism.

But now, Coinbase's potential IPO is a major milestone for the cryptocurrency industry since major banks have long dismissed crypto companies, treating them as too risky to be trusted. Bitcoin has received an implicit stamp of approval from the financial lords of Wall Street. In fact, JPMorgan itself is walking back its previous skepticism and representing Bitcoin in the fundraising effort.

However, there are still many questions on how exactly different this IPO will be. It is possible that it could pave way for future cryptocurrency IPOs and fashion a hybrid world where traditional finance and cryptocurrencies coexist.

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Crypto Exchange Companies:

Kraken is a US-based cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2011. The exchange provides cryptocurrency to fiat trading and provides price information to Bloomberg Terminal. In February 2019, Kraken announced that it had raised $100M in a direct offering to its largest customers at a $4B valuation.

Bithumb is a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange. BitHumb is one of the most popular cryptocurrency trading platforms in South Korea. The BitHumb exchange was founded by BTC Korea.com LTD company in 2013 and is headquartered in Seoul. BitHumb is one of the leaders among the cryptocurrency trading companies in South Korea and Japan in terms of trading volume. Almost all options of BitHumb are oriented on Asian countries. Almost all popular cryptocoins are available, but the only available fiat currency there is the Korean Republic’s won.

Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini) is a digital currency exchange and custodian that allows customers to buy, sell, and store digital assets. It is a New York trust company that is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and was founded in 2014 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Gemini was the first exchange to launch bitcoin futures contracts in December 2017.

Fintech disruptor SoFi wants to become a national bank

SoFi has filed an application for a national bank charter, which would allow it to accept deposits and lend money without traditional bank partners.
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Chelsea Clinton is considering forming a venture capital firm

The working name is Metrodora Ventures, after the author of the first medical text known to have been written by a woman. [Read more].

Since last week, PrivCo has added:
808 Profiles Updates | 113 M&A Deals | 144 Funding Activities

Funding & Deal Highlights:

LogDNA, a startup that helps DevOps teams dig through their log data to find issues, announces a $25M Series C investment along with the promotion of industry vet Tucker Callaway to CEO.

LA-based bio science startup Kernel raises $53M from investors, including General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Eldridge, Manta Ray Ventures, and Tiny Blue Dot. The funding is the first outside money that Kernel has brought in, though it’s a Series C round because founder and CEO Bryan Johnson has personally provided $54M in investment for Kernel to date. Johnson also participated in this latest round alongside external investors.

$3.2M seed round supports Icon Savings’ mission to modernize retirement savings.

MariaDB Corporation, the company behind MariaDB SkySQL and one of the startups leading the charge on open-source cloud databases, announces $25M in funding to continue its growth.

OtoNexus Medical Technologies Inc. announces that Keiretsu Capital has invested in OtoNexus for the fourth time. Keiretsu Capital and Keiretsu Forum members are leading investors in OtoNexus with a total of $13M in funding since the company's inception. The new investment round enables OtoNexus to finalize product development and testing for market introduction.

SwipeSum, a software-enabled service that finds any business the best payments solution at the best rate - at no cost to that business - announces a $1.1M funding round, led by Jerry Kent at Cequel III, with participation from angel investors Larry Schiffer and Andy Love, as well as Greenway Family Office – all St. Louis based, where SwipeSum is headquartered. SwipeSum has raised $2.1M to date and will use the funds for software development of their ai-powered credit card processing statement analysis tool Staitment. The funding will also expand its sales and marketing efforts nationally.

XM Cyber, the multi-award-winning leader in breach and attack simulation (BAS) advanced cyber risk analytics and cloud security posture management, announces that it has closed a $17M Series B funding round with Macquarie Capital, Nasdaq Ventures, Our Innovation Fund, and Swarth Group. The company has now raised a total of $49M, from this current round as well as the previous Series A round, and a seed investment from Swarth Group.

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