Nydig, the cryptocurrency technology firm capitalising on the institutional embrace of bitcoin, has raised $1 billion in a growth equity round that values the company at $7 billion.
The round was led by WestCap, with participation from prior leads Bessemer Venture Partners and FinTech Collective, as well as strategic partners and existing investors Affirm, FIS, Fiserv, MassMutual, Morgan Stanley, and New York Life.
Nydig has been progressiely embedding its technology into major suppliers of banking systems, including Alkami, Allied, CSI, FIS, Fiserv, Jack Henry, and Q2, to enable financial institutions to offer their customers crypto payment services. The company has also forged partnerships to power products from leading fintech companies including Upgrade's Bitcoin Rewards Card, which now accounts for close to 10% of the firm's new card issuance.
Nydig in November acquired social media-focused micropayments app Bottlepay and in March raised $200 million in a funding round led by Morgan Stanley and Soros Investment Fund.
Robert Gutmann, co-founder and CEO of Nydig, comments: "Our roster of partnerships and strategic investors lays the foundation for NYDIG to become the leading provider of Bitcoin solutions for businesses in any industry, and this new equity capital will further accelerate progress towards making this exciting network accessible - and useful - to all."
He says the fresh source of capital will be used to further develop Nydig's institutional-grade bitcoin platform using recent upgrades to the bitcoin protocol with capabilities such as bitcoin and lightning payments, asset tokenization, and smart contracts.