Messari Pulls $21M in Series A Funding Round

Point72 Ventures, the venture capital firm led by Steven Cohen, has made a grand debut in the crypto space by investing in crypto data startup Messari in a Series A funding round. 

The massive funding announcement was unveiled by Messari Inc on August 5. The news highlights that the firm has raised nearly $21 million in this funding round, and that the investment course was led by  Point72 Ventures. 

Crypto Welcomes a new Venture Capitalist

While August 5, 2021 has marked a massive day for Messari, Steven Cohen’s Point72 Ventures has likewise noted it’s grand entrance in the crypto space. Messari has successfully obtained $21 million funding from major players of the crypto industry making it’s post-money valuation hover around $100 million. The crypto intelligence service provider also revealed that ‘Point72 Ventures’ has led the funding round amongst other major players. Point 72 Ventures’ Operating Partner Adam Carson has been included in the board of directors.

Other investors include existing Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Capital, Blockchain Ventures, Gemini Frontier Fund, Winklevoss Capital, Kraken Ventures and several others. 

Reportedly, the massive $21M funding will not only help the company expand globally but will also triple the size of its engineering and research teams, resulting in increased efficiency of provided services, streamline the firm’s participation in decentralised operations and their communities.

Messari’s Ryan Selkis On ‘Evolution of Crypto Analytics’

Messari was founded by Ryan Selkis in 2018, and since then has successfully provided the crypto ecosystem with reliable data and research services. Ryan Selkis has also described how crypto analytics have evolved since the company’s inception.

He said, “When we started, digital assets were at the height of ICO euphoria, but insufficient fundamental data was available about the projects. However, at present, major protocols/ICO’s have restructured and the price of the token is predicted way before the project is launched.”

Venture capitals have surged in the crypto industry this year, with market giants proposing billions of dollars in combined funding to kick start promising blockchain plays. In April of this year, Paxos raised $300 million in its Series D funding round, making the Blockchain infrastructure platform join Crypto Unicorn Club at $2.4B Valuation.

More recently, blockchain firm, Fireblocks gathered $310 million in strategic investments, bringing the cumulative funding to $489 million.