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

article-image

ConsenSys co-founder Joseph Lubin | Source: Collision.conf/"Collision 2018" (CC license)

share

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.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

recent research

Blinks Report Image.png

Research

Blinks enable the ability to vampire attack user monetization of existing networks by inserting onchain and financialized functionalities directly within the popular social feeds and digital experiences of today.

article-image

A series of raises were announced as 21 projects gear up to take part in a16z’s CSX

article-image

And Congress members launched an investigation into whether the SEC is hiring civil service employees based on their political affiliations

article-image

Plus, Osmosis goes cross-chain with Polaris DEX-aggregator

article-image

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried filed a 102-page appeal brief arguing the judge’s decisions barred him from a fair trial

article-image

Plus, a look at BTC ETFs’ performance so far this year

article-image

Plus, Solana had a bearish August, but SOL locked in DeFi