ConsenSys Plans To ‘Redesign’ MetaMask and Hire 600 New Employees
The planned growth efforts follow a $450 million fundraise, putting the company’s valuation at $7 billion
ConsenSys co-founder Joseph Lubin | Source: Collision.conf/"Collision 2018" (CC license)
key takeaways
key takeaways
- MetaMask eclipsed 30 million monthly active users in January
- Proceeds from the round, led by ParaFi Capital, will be converted to ether
ConsenSys has raised $450 million — valuing the company at $7 billion — as it now looks to onboard more talent and continue accelerating Web3 adoption.
The blockchain infrastructure company’s Series D funding round follows a raise of $200 million in November, which valued ConsenSys at $3.2 billion.
Its main product, Metamask, eclipsed 30 million monthly active users in January — a 42% increase in fourth months.
A major redesign of MetaMask is slated for later this year, according to the company. ConsenSys also plans to roll out a plug-in extensibility system to allow integration with various blockchain protocols and account security schemes.
Johnna Powell, global co-head of ConsenSys NFTs, told Blockworks last month that the company is seeking to bring the next tens of millions of users into Metamask through NFTs (non-fungible tokens). It is also exploring collateralization, fractionalization, swapping, borrowing and lending in the segment.
ParaFi Capital led the latest fundraising effort. Participants of the Series C round that invested in ConsenSys again were Third Point, Marshall Wace, TRUE Capital Management and United Talent Agency’s venture fund. New investors included Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures and C Ventures.
“As a long-time power user of ConsenSys’ products and services, ParaFi is thrilled to be an investor and thought partner as the company continues to operate at the forefront of decentralized infrastructure,” ParaFi Capital founder Ben Forman said in a statement.
The proceeds from the round will be converted to ether to rebalance the ratio of ETH to US dollar-equivalents in line with ConsenSys’ treasury strategy, according to the company.
“Next round will be our ‘Series ETH’ where we will assist investors in getting fully crypto native to contribute ETH as a symbol of and commitment to the ongoing paradigm shift,” ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin said in a statement.
The funding will also go toward hiring more than 600 new employees, the company announced. With nearly 700 full-time employees, ConsenSys plans to have more than 1,000 by the end of 2022.
A ConsenSys spokesperson noted in February that nearly half of ConsenSys’s 366 hires over the past six months were coming from the Web2 ecosystem, while about one-third joined the company from a different industry.
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