Ripple Raises $200M in Series-C Round Led by Tetragon

Blockchain-based payments firm Ripple has raised $200 million in a Series-C funding round led by alternative asset investment firm Tetragon.

Japan's SBI Holdings and VC firm Route 66 Ventures also participated, Ripple announced on Friday.

“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 Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

The investment will allow the firm to further draw new international talent and "better serve" customers and partners, the firm said. The new stakeholders will further provide "invaluable industry insight and expertise" as Ripple grows its business, according to the announcement. 

Highlighting what it called its "strongest year of growth to date," Ripple said its RippleNet payments network grew in 2019 to over 300 clients. It also partnered with MoneyGram, taking a near 10 percent stake in the remittance firm. As part of the deal, MoneyGram will utilize Ripple’s products for cross-border settlements.

In its last financial report, Ripple said its total XRP sales for the third quarter of 2019 were worth $66.24 million, up from $251.51 million in the previous quarter.

Ripple will be in court next month, defending its motion to dismiss a lawsuit claiming its sales of XRP were an unregistered security issuance. Earlier this month, Ripple moved to have the case dismissed, saying, along with other arguments, even if XRP were a security, the investor plaintiffs brought their case far too late for it to proceed.

XRP has seen a slight price bump as news of the investment spreads. According to CoinDesk data, the cryptocurrency is up 3.12 percent on the day at $0.1934.