Blockchain auditing firm CertiK raises $80 million in Series B2 funding (The Block)
CertiK raises $80 million in Series B2 funding round and is now valued at approximately $1 billion. CertiK is a blockchain and smart contract auditing firm. Sequoia Capital was the lead investor in this round, which also included participation from other investors such as Tiger Global, Coatue Management and GL Ventures (the venture capital arm of Hillhouse Capital).
After raising $24 million in a Series B+ round in August, CertiK has now completed a Series B2 investment round just three months later. In addition, a Series B funding round provided approximately $37 million to the audit firm in July. Over the past five months, New York-based CertiK has raised over $140 million.
Increasing demand for CertiK’s products
As CertiK raises another $80 million in Series B2 funding, demand for its products has increased. In the wake of recent cryptocurrency and DeFi hacking, the auditing firm continues to witness an increase in demand for the products it offers. According to CertiK, more than $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen through hacks, exploits and fraud so far in 2021, compared to over $500 million in 2020.
CertiK performs audits of the smart contracts that are part of blockchain projects to ensure that they are safe to launch and use. To date, CertiK claims to have offered its blockchain security services to more than 1,800 clients, identified more than 31,000 vulnerabilities in the blockchain codes, and secured more than $310 billion in crypto assets. Aave, Polygon and Terra are among the company’s clientele.
Speaking about how CertiK is raising an additional $80 million in Series B2 funding, CertiK co-founder Ronghui Gu said: “We see demand from a mixed set of projects, both large and small. We also have a global presence with projects on across multiple countries CertiK is on a mission to secure the crypto world – end to end, throughout the lifecycle of smart contracts and blockchains.
Skynet is the name of an active blockchain security and transaction monitoring platform that CertiK maintains and operates. On a dashboard known as the Security Leaderboard, the Skynet platform monitors for suspicious on-chain behavior such as flash loan attacks and sends out alerts when Skynet finds them.
The blockchain security company has been profitable ever since last year, and all of their products help generate revenue. After raising additional funding, CertiK intends to continue developing additional features for its various blockchain security solutions. The company has over 130 employees and is looking to fill a number of positions at the moment.
Best-in-class AI technology
CertiK raises an additional $80 million in Series B2 funding, highlighting the fact that CertiK is an industry leader in blockchain security, using the most advanced AI technology available to secure and monitor blockchain protocols and smart contracts. CertiK’s goal is to make the online world safer with its blockchain security services.
CertiK takes cutting-edge innovations from academic institutions and applies them to business environments, starting with blockchain security. This makes it possible to construct business-critical applications in a safe and precise way. Computer science professors such as Zhong Shao from Yale University and Columbia University established CertiK in 2018, and the company’s headquarters are located in New York City.
CertiK is backed by prominent names in the business world, such as Sequoia, Coatue Management, Tiger Global, GL Ventures (the venture arm of Hillhouse Capital), Binance, Coinbase Ventures, Lightspeed and many others. CertiK prioritizes recruiting exceptionally talented people to fill leadership roles. Dr. David Tarditi recently joined CertiK as Vice President of Engineering.
He previously spent over 16 years at Microsoft, where he was responsible for establishing and leading engineering and research teams. In addition to this, he is the inventor and co-creator of 22 patents and has researched typed intermediate languages. In addition, Monier Jalal, a cybersecurity industry veteran with over 20 years of leadership experience, has joined CertiK as Vice President of Marketing.
Mr. Jalal is a member of the founding and executive management teams of several cybersecurity startups, where he has been instrumental in driving growth, acquisitions and IPOs. He has also helped companies effectively market and launch new products. CertiK has now emerged as a leading blockchain security company with the help of its experienced team.
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