All of 2015's largest blockchain and bitcoin deals involved corporates and strategics.
After no involvement in the five largest blockchain and bitcoin deals in 2013 and 2014, corporate and strategic investors including Goldman Sachs, Visa, Cisco, and AXA among others have dominated the largest blockchain deals since the start of 2015, according to CB Insights data.
The chart below highlights the five largest deals in the bitcoin and blockchain space by year and the amount of funding consumed by rounds involving corporate investors. All of 2015’s largest blockchain and bitcoin deals involved corporates and strategics. Thus far, this year has followed a similar trend.
The specific deals including in this analysis are listed below.
| Company | Deal Size ($M) | Round | Year | Select Strategic Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coinbase | $ 25.0 | Series B | 2013 | – |
| Bitstamp | $ 10.0 | Venture | 2013 | – |
| Circle Internet Financial | $ 9.0 | Series A | 2013 | – |
| 21 Inc. | $ 5.1 | Series A | 2013 | – |
| BTC China | $ 5.0 | Series A | 2013 | – |
| Blockchain | $ 30.5 | Series A | 2014 | – |
| Xapo | $ 40.0 | Series A | 2014 | – |
| BitFury | $ 40.0 | Series A | 2014 | – |
| BitPay | $ 30.0 | Series A | 2014 | – |
| Blockstream | $ 21.0 | Seed VC | 2014 | – |
| 21 Inc. | $ 111 | Series B | 2015 | Cisco Investments, Qualcomm Ventures |
| Coinbase | $ 75.0 | Series C | 2015 | NTT DoCoMo Ventures, NYSE Euronext, USAA |
| Circle Internet Financial | $ 50.0 | Series C | 2015 | Goldman Sachs |
| Ripple | $ 32.0 | Series A | 2015 | CME Ventures, Seagate Technology, Santander InnoVentures |
| Chain | $ 30.0 | Series B | 2015 | Capital One Growth Ventures, Citi Ventures, Fiserv, NASDAQ, Orange Digital Ventures Visia |
| Digital Asset Holdings | $ 60.0 | Series A | 2016 YTD | AMB AMRO, Accenture, Australian Securities Exchange, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, CME Group, Deutsche Boerse, Goldman Sachs, IBM Venture Capital, ICAP, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Financial Services, Santander InnoVentures |
| Blockstream | $ 55.0 | Series A | 2016 YTD | AXA Strategic Ventures |
| Bitt | $ 16.0 | Series A | 2016 YTD | Overstock.com |
| Gem | $ 7.1 | Series A | 2016 YTD | – |
| Simplex | $ 7.0 | Series A | 2016 YTD | – |
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