Days after buying fellow bitcoin exchanges Coinsetter and Cavirtex, Kraken has scored a multi-million dollar investment from Japanese venture capital firm SBI Investment.
SBI Investment is leading Kraken's Series B funding round, just days after its parent, SBI Holdings, struck a deal to create a joint venture company with Ripple to drive the adoption of the latter's distributed ledger technology for cross-border payments across Asian markets.
Founded in 2011, San Francisco-based Kraken has established itself as one of the more reputable bitcoin exchanges. It raised $5 million in a 2014 Series A funding round, has struck a deal with Fidor Bank in Germany, and was even selected by the Tokyo’s court appointed trustee to assist MtGox creditors in the investigation of missing bitcoins.
Less than two weeks ago it boosted its North American growth ambitions by buying New York City-based Coinsetter and Canada's first bitcoin exchange, Cavirtex.
Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO, SBI Holdings, says: "Kraken has been a leading global bitcoin exchange for years. They have grown tremendously during that time while building a strong reputation as one of the most innovative, secure, compliant, and reliable companies in this emerging financial services area. Kraken was the clear choice.”