Cryptocurrency market intelligence provider Messari has concluded a $21 million fundraise that was supported by some of the biggest venture firms in blockchain, once again highlighting growing investor appetite for budding crypto startups.
The new funding will aid Messari in expanding its product suites as well as hiring and retaining more engineering and research talent. The company also plans to expand its enterprise offerings targeting institutional players. Ryan Selkis, Messari's co-founder and CEO, further explained to Cointelegraph how the funds will be deployed:
"We haven’t yet burnt through our seed capital from 2019, and have been highly capital efficient to date. We expect this capital to help us expand for the next several years, and allow us to pursue selective M&A opportunities as well [...] With our funding, we plan to triple down on products that organize and contextualize crypto data for our global users and fulfill our mission to power smarter participation in the booming crypto economy."
The funding round was led by Point72 Ventures, with participation from previous investors Coinbase Ventures, Uncork Capital and Underscore VC. The Series A also attracted new investors, including Alameda Research, Blockchain Ventures, CMS Holdings, Gemini Frontier Fund, Kraken Ventures and Nascent.
Related: $22B hedge fund Point72 reportedly searching for a 'head of crypto'
Messari was launched by entrepreneur Ryan Selkis in 2018 to provide reliable analytics for the still-underdeveloped cryptocurrency industry. The firm’s research and analytics tools have expanded considerably over that period, reflecting the growing demand for crypto intelligence products. Some of Messari’s biggest customers include Coinbase, Blocktower and Chainalysis.
When asked about how the crypto analytics market has changed since Messari's inception in 2018, Selkis told Cointelegraph "Fundamentals actually matter!" He explained:
"When we started, crypto was at the height of ICO euphoria with limited quantitative data available for pre-launch projects. Today, major protocols are seeing real economic activity, and their tokens have predictable value accrual mechanisms."
Venture capital has flooded the crypto industry this year, with major companies contributing billions of dollars in combined funding to kick start promising blockchain plays. In June of this year, Andreessen Horowitz launched the biggest-ever crypto venture fund at $2.2 billion. More recently, blockchain unicorn Fireblocks raised $310 million in strategic investments, bringing its cumulative funding to $489 million.