The Series A round was reportedly led by venture capital giants Greenoaks and Thrive Capital.
A month after launching the company from incubation, Tempo, founded by Stripe and Paradigm, has reportedly raised $500 million.
The new Series A round was led by venture capital giants Greenoaks and Thrive Capital, according to Fortune, citing people familiar with the matter. Sequoia, Ribbit Capital and SV Angel also participated in the round.
The raise values the young blockchain startup at $5 billion, making it one of the most valuable blockchain venture capital rounds in recent memory.
Tempo was created with the idea of complementing existing crypto infrastructure by providing a way for large enterprises to connect to the chain, thereby increasing crypto adoption.
It is a layer 1 blockchain, which means it is not built on top of other protocols – like Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana.
Blockchain design partners include Anthropic, OpenAI, Revolut, Visa and Standard Chartered, which provide the new company with input on AI, e-commerce and financial services.
Fortune commented that the company and the support behind it represent a bet that dollar-backed cryptocurrencies could become the new layer of infrastructure for global payments.
Paradigm, a crypto investment firm, was co-founded in 2018 by Matt Huang – also a former partner at Sequoia. According to 2024 data from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has approximately $12.7 billion in assets under management.
Meanwhile, Stripe, one of the world’s largest fintechs, was valued at over $90 billion this year. By 2024, fintech will generate a total payment volume of $1.4 trillion.
The Irish company has shown keen interest in cryptocurrency, bringing crypto payments back as part of its services after a multi-year hiatus. In June, Stripe acquired US crypto wallet provider Privy for an undisclosed amount.
Last year, the company acquired stablecoin platform Bridge in a $1.1 billion deal, which marked the company’s largest acquisition.
Tempo is led by Huang with its own full-time team, separate from Paradigm and Stripe.
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