Messari Looking to Raise New Funding to Top $300M Valuation

Blockchain-based data analytics startup Messari is reportedly plotting a funding move as gleaned from sources close to the matter according to a report from The Block. While the company is yet to come public with this proposed funding round, one of the sources says the firm is looking at raising as much as $35 million and is likely to increase its valuation to $300 million.

Messari occupies a very pivotal position in today’s blockchain ecosystem, and its footprint is very conspicuous. Founded in 2018 by Ryan Selkis, the firm has become a prominent source of robust and factual data for both retail and institutional investors to get involved in the digital currency ecosystem.

The experiences that Selkis brings to the table in founding Messari as well as acting as its Chief Executive Officer dates back to his time as a founding member of the Digital Currency Group (DCG). Selkis’ experience also extends to his role as a general manager at the DCG-owned news platform, Coindesk.

Should this latest funding round be confirmed, it will come off as the second time the analytics platform will be raising capital within the space of about 12 months. Messari raised $21 million last year August in a Series A round which was led by Point72 Ventures, the Venture Arm of billionaire Steve Cohen’s hedge fund which boasts of as much as $24 billion in assets under management.

This new potential fundraiser is bound to triple the startup’s valuation, a capital base that it needs to continually sustain its relevance in today’s highly distressed crypto ecosystem. With better capital, Messari can debut more innovative products that can help its users to make more informed decisions now that the digital currency ecosystem is experiencing a prolonged crypto winter.

Ryan Selkis Shy Away from the Messari Funding News

Known as one of the most proactive crypto voices on Twitter, Ryan Selkis has taken to Twitter to comment on the report that Messari is looking to pull new funds from investors.

“I don’t comment on market rumors related to Messari, but… We’ve scaled to 130 people on zero net operating burn, had a record July, and are hiring $35mm worth of developers to help bring transparency and institutional-grade data tool to the crypto market,” he said via the tweet.

It is quite unusual for a startup to maintain a robust hiring spree at a time such as this. Ryan Selkis’s tweet seeks to portray a company that has no money woes, but more cash injection will definitely not hurt at any point.

Besides Messari, the most renowned data analytics startups in the digital currency ecosystem have also received humongous capital injections over the past year. While competitor Kaiko raised $53 million in a Series B funding round amidst the heat of the market downturn in June, Dune Analytics entered the unicorn’s club following its latest funding round in February.