ConsenSys, founded by Joseph Lubin, is an Ethereum blockchain firm.Blockchain technology firm ConsenSys said on Tuesday its valuation had more than doubled to over $7 billion after its latest funding round that included investments from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Microsoft.ConsenSys, founded by Joseph Lubin, is an Ethereum blockchain firm whose products help developers, enterprises and users build applications geared towards the so-called "Web3" space."Web3" is used to describe a potential next phase of the internet: a decentralized web run on the record-keeping technology blockchain.The company, which raised $450 million in the latest round, said it would use the funds to expand its MetaMask offering with a redesign, expected to release later this year.
MetaMask is a crypto wallet used to buy, sell and swap tokens.Investors in the new round led by ParaFi Capital also included Singapore's Temasek, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures and C Ventures.ConsenSys said it intends to convert all funds from the round to ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, to rebalance the ratio of ETH to U.S.
dollar-equivalents in line with the company's treasury strategy.
Lubin has contributed heavily to the development of the cryptocurrency.ConsenSys, which was valued at $3.2 billion in its last funding round in November, joins a growing list of crypto companies whose valuations have jumped in recent months driven by the explosion of interest in "Web3" and with the launch of marketplaces for non-fungible tokens (NFT).Earlier this year, "Web3" developer platform Alchemy nearly tripled its valuation to $10.2 billion after a funding round led by Lightspeed and Silver Lake.