BCB Group, Europe’s leading provider of business accounts and trading services for the digital asset economy, announced today that it has closed a Series A funding round co-led by Foundation Capital with participation from BACKED VC, PayU (the fintech and e-payments business of Prosus), Digital Currency Group, Nexo, Wintermute, Menai Financial Group, Circle, Tokentus Investment, Cowa, Profluent Ventures and LAUNCHub Ventures.
Existing investors North Island Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, Pantera and L1 Digital also participated in the round. This is the largest Series A funding round for a company in the blockchain industry in the UK.
BCB Group provides business accounts, cryptocurrency and foreign exchange market liquidity and custody for a significant number of the world’s largest crypto-engaged financial institutions. BCB Group is the only multi-regulated institution of its kind to offer clients a complete end-to-end suite of payment processing, cryptocurrency trading and custody services accessible through a unified API-enabled platform, allowing clients to access a complete range of digital asset services in one place.
After almost five years in business and having processed nearly 100 billion dollars worth of payments, this funding round will enable BCB Group to provide payments and market infrastructure across more regions, helping those markets to grow, as well as acquire strategic stakes in critical infrastructure partners. Altogether, the new financing will ensure BCB Group can accelerate their offerings of dedicated payments and banking services, already relied upon by many industry leaders.
We would like to acknowledge the role played by Humphreys Law in the fundraising. Henry, Annette and the team did an incredible job on a highly complex transaction and much of the credit for a successful completion is down to them.
BCB Group Founder and CEO Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie commented: “Our mission is to connect and bank the global crypto industry. This game-changing financing backed by both venture capital and strategic client interests, empowers us to accelerate that mission and build bigger, better, deeper infrastructure which is so critical to the growth of this industry.
Angus Davis, General Partner at Foundation Capital added: “BCB Group enjoys a leadership position at the intersection of crypto and traditional banking, two sectors where Foundation Capital has been an active investor for many years. We are excited to support Oliver and his team’s growth ambition to provide payments, liquidity, custody, yield and other financial services to the growing global ecosystem of crypto-native businesses.”
Alex Brunicki, co-founder and partner at BACKED VC commented: “We have been deeply impressed with Oliver and his team’s ambition and humility, let alone their resilience in building an institution over many volatile years in the crypto space. At BACKED, we are confident that BCB Group has the product, customer relationships and capital to dominate the European crypto banking landscape and beyond over the next few years. We are thrilled to be partnering with them.”
BCB Group raised a strategic funding round in March 2021, co-led by North Island Ventures and Blockchain.com Ventures, with participation from Pantera, L1 Digital, Pack Capital and Rockaway Blockchain Fund, which was used to fund investments in several new initiatives. Prior to this, BCB Group raised $1m via a seed round in March 2019, from NKB Finance and a private investor.