Circle, a global financial technology firm that provides payments and treasury infrastructure for internet businesses, has raised $440 million in financing from leading institutional and strategic investors.
The financing, among the top 10 in private fintech investments, fuels the company’s continued growth, organizational development and market expansion opportunities. On the heels of recruiting world-class leaders to Circle’s executive team, including Dante Disparte, as Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy, Jeremy Fox-Geen, as Chief Financial Officer, Mandeep Walia as Chief Compliance and Risk Officer, along with hundreds of open roles across the U.S. and around the world, Circle is now poised to meet significant global demand for its products and services aimed at marrying the existing financial system with breakthroughs in digital currency within payments and finance.
Underpinning this growth is Circle’s principal contribution in the rapid rise of USD Coin, or USDC, as the world’s most trusted and fastest growing dollar digital currency, which now stands at $22 billion in circulation. USDC has grown by 436% in 2021 alone, and over 28,000% over the past 12 months.
“As a company, Circle has remained committed to our mission of raising global economic prosperity through the power of digital currency, blockchains and breakthroughs in programmable money. The sustained global demand for our services powering the growth of USDC, as the most trusted and well regulated dollar digital currency, signals that we are one step closer to achieving our mission. With powerful backers who are committed to our mission and vision, we will redouble our efforts to expand into new markets, continue driving fundamental technology innovation and grow our team,” said Jeremy Allaire, Circle co-founder and CEO.
The financing included investments from leading private equity, institutional and strategic investors, including Fidelity Management and Research Company, Marshall Wace, Willett Advisors, Intersection Fintech Ventures, Atlas Merchant Capital, Digital Currency Group, FTX, Breyer Capital, Valor Capital Group, Pillar VC, as well as Michael J. Price and Friends.
“Circle has been a pioneer in unlocking the potential of blockchain-enabled payments. With USDC’s extraordinary growth, Circle has established itself at the center of a new generation of financial services and applications. We are proud to continue to partner with Circle to develop a better global financial system,” said Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group.
“Circle has been an experienced player in making fiat work on blockchains for nearly eight years and has built deep capabilities to ease payments in crypto. At FTX we’re excited to partner further with Circle to help expand these capabilities to all crypto users,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX.
