This morning, news broke that Brooklyn-based ConsenSys has raised $10 million in new funding from SK Group, the largest telecommunications firm in South Korea.
The funding marks the first institutional investment in ConsenSys since its founding in 2014. Despite that fact, the company has growth significantly since its inception, building up a workforce of hundreds of employees and numerous spin-out companies.
At its core, ConsenSys builds internet infrastructure and developer tools that live on the Ethereum blockchain. The firm’s goal is to build a “Web 3.0” via the development of new concepts through its ConsenSys Labs project, in addition to aiding existing companies in making the transition onto the blockchain.
Reports from CoinTelegraph suggest that ConsenSys’s ability to help companies incorporate blockchain technology into their existing platforms may be the driving force behind the latest funding, due to the fact that numerous major South Korean companies have been taking an increased interest in blockchain technology.
Samsung, Kakao and Hyundai have all recently made forays into the world of blockchain technology, and the South Korean city of Busan has even reportedly been working on a cryptocurrency-based partnership with local bank BNK Busan Bank.
Further details of the funding, such as how ConsenSys plans to divvy up the $10 million, have not yet been made public. Built In has reached out to ConsenSys for comment, and will update this article when new information becomes available.
This is not the first recent funding success for ConsenSys: last week, a ConsenSys spin-out company, 3Box, scored $2.5 million in funding of its own.
