Crypto wallet and blockchain tech startup imToken raises $30 million Series B to safeguard blockchain and token-based assets
imToken, a Singapore-based tech startup and the world’s largest Ethereum digital asset wallet, announced it has closed a US$30 million Series B funding to accelerate the development of its next iteration. The round was led by Qiming Venture Partners, with participation from its lead Series A investor IDG Capital and new investors including Breyer Capital, and others. imToken is a provider of a decentralized digital wallet used to manage and safeguard a wide range of blockchain- and token-based assets.
imToken was founded in 2016 by Ben He to address a lack of user-friendly entry points to the cryptocurrency space. In line with its belief that digital asset wallets are the most secure and cost-effective way of banking, the company set out to make the world of decentralized digital wallets more easily and securely accessible by creating a wallet platform with unprecedented ease-of-use and industry-leading platform security.
In the span of 5 years, imToken has expanded our outreach to millions of users from more than 200 countries, becoming the world’s largest Ethereum wallet. Now, imToken’s digital wallet platform is a key pillar of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, enabling its 12 million users from over 150 countries to manage and safeguard a wide range of blockchain- and token-based assets, identities and data. Over US$50 billion in assets are currently placed on the platform and the total transaction value via imToken has exceeded US$500 billion.
With this investment, imToken intends to accelerate the development of its next iteration, imToken 3.0, and achieve its long-term goal of making blockchain accessible to the masses. With imToken 3.0, imToken intends to fundamentally improve the way users interact with blockchain services by implementing keyless accounts, account recovery and other features that enable users to easily and securely access a variety of blockchain networks and applications.
Beyond its free non-custodial wallets, imToken also plans to provide secure and convenient access to a suite of decentralized finance (DeFi) services in imToken 3.0, a leap to the centralized digital wallet. The company’s goal is to further lower the entry barrier for cryptocurrency newcomers by building up a robust ecosystem of interconnected products that makes a wide range of blockchain services more available and easier to manage.
In addition, the newly raised capital will be invested in building a research arm called imToken Labs, with the goal of further exploring and applying advanced blockchain technology in imToken’s products and services. It will also be used to bolster imToken’s recruiting efforts in the areas of research, marketing and operations, and to establish more offices globally.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with such a savvy and experienced group of investors from both inside and outside of the crypto space,” said He Bin, CEO and Founder of imToken. “Beginning with our inception five years ago, we recognized the huge potential of blockchain technology – as well as the challenges faced by the industry with regards to a need for improved user experiences, secure key management and scalable network. With our investors’ support, we are well-positioned to tackle these challenges and grow our platform beyond our wallets – bringing our trademark focus on ease-of-use to a wide range of decentralized services with a goal of serving over 100 million users in the next five years.”
imToken has taken major strides to grow the broader decentralized ecosystem, including establishing imToken Ventures in 2018 to invest in companies connected to the digital wallet ecosystem. One of imToken’s incubated projects, a decentralized exchange called Tokenlon, has now facilitated over US$10 billion in total trading volume. imKey, imToken’s hardware wallet, enables its users to easily manage popular digital assets on their mobile devices via Bluetooth.
“imToken has already established itself as one of the most important players in the digital asset custody space,” said Jim Breyer, Founder and CEO of Breyer Capital. “Now, we believe there is a significant opportunity for the company to leverage its powerful brand equity and strong user network to expand into new, adjacent markets—and we are excited to help them realize that opportunity.”