Ripple Labs Closes $28 Million in Funding

Ripple Labs, creator and a developer of the Ripple payment protocol and exchange network, has raised $28 million in series A funding, it announced Tuesday.

The Bitcoin Opportunity Corp., Core Innovation Capital, Route 66 Ventures, RRE Ventures, Vast Ventures and Venture 51 invested in the round.

Among its newer venture firms are IDG Capital Partners, the venture arms of CME Group and global data storage company Seagate Technology, Jerry Yang's AME Cloud Ventures, ChinaRock Capital Management, China Growth Capital and Wicklow Capital.

Ripple framed the news around its plans to continue growing its international presence and extend its focus to corporate treasury and market making.

The combination of new and traditional investors, it said, reflects and supports its vision of an "Internet of value" at the corporate level worldwide.

"Financial institutions, market makers and corporations are laying the foundation for this Internet of value, contributing and providing liquidity for global payments," Chris Larsen, co-founder and chief executive of Ripple Labs, said in a statement. "With investors like CME Group and Seagate joining the fold, we're well positioned to accelerate adoption amongst these key customers."

Li Feng, a partner at IDG Capital — which invested early in Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi and CreditEase — will also join Ripple Labs' Board of Directors. The digital currency company gained traction early in Europe and the U.S. when it integrated with Earthport, Fidor Bank, Cross River Bank and CBW Bank. Now it's looking to its new Chinese investors to help drive adoption in Asia.

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