Anchorage Digital is now the 7th unicorn with Portuguese DNA

Anchorage Digital has closed a $350 million Series D funding round, bringing the company’s valuation up to $3 billion. The fintech led by Portuguese Diogo Mónica thus reaches unicorn status. It is the seventh startup with national DNA to achieve this status, the first crypto-native company with national colours to fly to this level, in a year in which four unicorns with Portuguese co-founders were born.

“This funding positions Anchorage Digital to meet the unprecedented institutional demand for this rapidly evolving market. We’re grateful that KKR and this wider group of investors shares our vision to expand regulated institutional access to digital assets,” says Diogo Mónica, president and co-founder of Anchorage Digital, quoted in a press release. With this new round, the fintech, which had raised $80 million in February, has raised $430 million this year alone.

Led by global investment firm KKR, the Series D investment round also featured investors such as Goldman Sachs, Alameda Research, Andreessen Horowitz, Apollo credit funds, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Blockchain Capital, Delta Blockchain Fund, Elad Gil, GIC, GoldenTree Asset Management, Innovius Capital, Kraken, Lux Capital, PayPal Ventures, Senator Investment Group, Standard Investments, Thoma Bravo, and Wellington Management.

KKR’s investment in Anchorage is made through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II, a fund dedicated to investing in the technology sector.

“As a pioneer in enabling institutional investors to access digital assets, Anchorage has built a best in class, institutional grade digital asset platform that combines the best practices of both modern security and usability,” explains Ben Pederson, Senior Leader on KKR’s Technology Growth Equity team, quoted in a press release.

“We are thrilled to lead this Series D round and work with Diogo, Nathan and their talented team as they continue to support the institutional adoption of digital assets through their differentiated, regulated and integrated suite of solutions,” he adds.

The funding now raised comes after the federal approval in January of Anchorage Digital Bank by the Office of the Comptroller (OCC), an independent body of the US Treasury Department; the raising in February of $80 million in a Series C round – led by GIC, including Andreessen Horowitz, Blockchain Capital, Lux Capital, and Indico – the increase in headcount by 175% to date (2021) and annual growth of 800% over the past two years.

With the latest funding, Anchorage Digital plans to enhance its infrastructure solutions, specifically for global financial companies and innovative fintech. It also intends to invest to “accelerate and simplify clients’ engagement with the latest in crypto innovation and increase the size of its team to continue to expand product offerings and grow its client base.”