Bessemer Venture Partners leads round that also includes PayPal Ventures, Initialized Capital, Jump Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Operator Partners, and Blockchain Capital
TRM drove 600 percent revenue growth in the last year as adoption of digital assets expands the need for risk management and compliance software
SAN FRANCISCO – June 17, 2021 – TRM Labs, a pioneer in blockchain intelligence, announced today that it has closed a $14 Million Series A funding round. Bessemer led the Series A with additional participation from PayPal Ventures, Initialized Capital, Jump Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Operator Partners, Blockchain Capital, and executives from Google. Other existing investors include Y Combinator, Alumni Ventures Group, The MBA Fund, Tapas Capital, SGH Capital.
“The team at TRM Labs is building an extraordinary company that is going to be critically important in helping financial institutions safely transition to a new financial system for the digital age,” said Ethan Kurzweil, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, who has joined the TRM board. “TRM will also continue to be a strong partner to law enforcement and regulators around the globe as they work to ensure that illicit actors don’t take advantage of this new financial system.”
TRM’s platform integrates with more than a dozen blockchains, and analyzes billions of virtual asset transactions to detect in real-time signs of fraud and financial crime like money laundering. The increase in adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies worldwide is driving global, financial institutions including major banks, brokerages, and exchanges across US, Latin America, Asia, and Europe to turn to TRM for cryptocurrency compliance and risk management solutions. TRM drove 600 percent revenue growth in the last year and has doubled headcount.
“I could not be more proud of what the team at TRM has built and I am honored to have the extraordinary team at Bessemer lead our Series A,” said Esteban Castaño, co-founder and CEO of TRM Labs. “This partnership is exactly what TRM needs to continue to invest in our clients in an industry characterized by explosive growth. Our mission at TRM is to build a safer financial system for billions of people and we are so fortunate to have these investors onboard.”
In one year, the value of digital assets locked in DeFi smart contracts grew by a factor of 18, from $670 million to $13 billion. The number of associated user wallets grew by a factor of 11, from 100,000 to 1.2 million. Meanwhile, more than 60 Central Banks have been exploring CBDCs on blockchain since 2014. Large banks are providing Bitcoin-related services, with Morgan Stanley saying it will soon offer access to three Bitcoin funds for its wealth management clients.
"The team at TRM has built the next generation in blockchain intelligence software. TRM is the trust layer necessary for cryptocurrency to realize its full potential to make financial services more affordable, convenient and secure,” said Peter Sanborn, Managing Partner at PayPal Ventures. “TRM Labs serves as a critical piece of infrastructure to build a safe and accessible new financial system.”
About TRM
TRM provides blockchain intelligence to help financial institutions, cryptocurrency businesses and public agencies detect, investigate and manage crypto-related fraud and financial crime. TRM's risk management platform includes solutions for cryptocurrency anti-money laundering (AML), transaction monitoring and wallet screening, entity risk scoring including Know-Your-VASP, and transaction tracing for investigations. These tools enable a rapidly growing cohort of organizations around the world to safely embrace cryptocurrency-related transactions, products, and partnerships. TRM is based in San Francisco, CA and is hiring across engineering, product, sales, and data science.