Investors pour $200 million into Ripple, the creator of cryptocurrency XRP, now valued at $10 billion

We first wrote about Ripple, the creator the creator of the popular cryptocurrency XRP, when we featured some of the hottest blockchain startups to watch in 2018. The startup has grown exponentially since then. Ripple also witnessed its strongest year of growth to date in 2019. Its global payments network RippleNet grew to more than 300 customers worldwide and included a new strategic partnership with MoneyGram.

On Friday, Ripple announced it raised a $200 million in Series C funding to expedite the on boarding of new global talent to meet market demands and better serve its growing community of customers and partners. The round, which values the company at $10 billion, was led by Tetragon with participation from SBI Holdings and Route 66 Ventures. The investment marks a record year for Ripple and further proves the value of blockchain technology in improving global payments and the broader utility of the digital asset XRP and the XRP Ledger.

Founded in 2012 by Arthur Britto, Chris Larsen, Paul Cafardo and Ryan Fugger, the San Francisco-based blockchain startup provides one frictionless experience to send money globally using the power of blockchain. Ripple provides a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network created by the Ripple company. Ripple connects banks, payment providers, digital asset exchanges and corporates via RippleNet to provide one frictionless experience to send money globally.

“We are in a strong financial position to execute against our vision. As others in the blockchain space have slowed their growth or even shut down, we have accelerated our momentum and industry leadership throughout 2019,” said CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

In addition to the funding, Ripple announced the next chapter for Xpring: the open developer platform for money. This platform offers tools, services and programs that make it easier for developers to send and receive payments in any currency, across any network, using the XRP Ledger and Interledger Protocol (ILP)—removing the pain and friction from integrating money into apps.

While the funding announcement is a positive news for the XRP community, many continue to doubt the role of Ripple and XRP. Regarding the funding amount, Micheal Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, CrunchBase and Arrington XRP Capital, said on Twitter: “If you’re perplexed as to why investors would aggressively invest in Ripple at a $10b valuation, the problem may be you. Or you could just keep believing you’re so smart and they’re so dumb.”

https://twitter.com/arrington/status/1208155307056058368