Metamask maker ConsenSys raises $450M at a $7B valuation

Ethereum infrastructure startup ConsenSys — the company behind the popular ethereum wallet MetaMask — raised $450 million in new funding, just months after raising $200 million.

• The financing values ConsenSys at $7 billion, or double its valuation from just the November 2021 financing.

Why it matters: The company is converting all the proceeds from the round into ETH.

• "[The move] aligns with our company-wide objectives to embrace our crypto-native roots, shows further commitment to our products, and will enable us to accelerate our pathway to decentralization,” says ConsenSys chief strategy officer Simon Morris.

Driving the news: ConsenSys' latest funding was led by Parafi Capital, a crypto-native growth-stage fund, and includes new investment from other late-stage firms like Temasek and SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

• At the same time, corporate investors Microsoft and United Talent Agency’s venture fund UTA VC came along for the ride, as blockchain-oriented applications start to go mainstream.
• "One of the things happening around NFTs is that individuals are starting to understand the promise of what web3 offers," Morris says. “This isn't just buying bitcoin on Coinbase and hoping that the price goes up, this is starting to own something digitally.”

Despite its ETH investment, Morris says ConsenSys will connect with other networks and blockchains in order to “enable developers to build things they want to build and allow consumers to connect to the things they want to connect to.”

• That includes a redesign of MetaMask that will allow it to integrate with a variety of different blockchain protocols.

• “We're not an Ethereum-maximalist company, it’s just we happen to be heavily focused on Ethereum because we started there and that ecosystem has so much momentum at the moment,” he said.

What's next: With the funding, ConsenSys plans to increase headcount from 700 to more than 1,000 employees by the end of the year. It also sees an opportunity for strategic M&A.

• "Our M&A targets usually prefer ETH to USD," Morris said, adding that given current inflation rates the company believes ETH is a superior asset to hold on its balance sheet.

Ryan Lawler co-authors the Axios Pro Fintech deals newsletter. Start your free trial at AxiosPro.com.