Less than a day after we at Jobaaj reported about the emergence of India's 104th unicorn, OneCard; another unicorn has emerged.
This time, it is a blockchain technology company called 5ire.
5ire, pronounced "Fire", is a fifth-generation blockchain ecosystem. It was founded by Pratik Gauri, Prateek Dwivedi, and web3 financier Vilma Mattila in August 2021. Unlike Blockchain or Polygon which employs the Proof of Work and Proof of Stake method of consensus, 5irechain employs a Proof of Benefit consensus.
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According to the founder & CEO Gauri, it stands for '5th Industrial Revolution' and will transition the world from a for-profit economy to a for-benefit economy by promoting sustainability. It has 6 main components: layer 1 blockchain, 5ire exchange, 5ire wallet, 5ire NFT/Metaverse marketplace, 5ire Labs & 5ire Capital.
"We are on a mission to embed sustainability into blockchain and shift the current paradigm from 'for-profit' to 'for-benefit'. Becoming the world's first and only sustainable unicorn born out of India, in just 11 months, is testimony that we are on the right path,” the CEO said.
The blockchain startup had raised $21 million in its Seed Funding round at a valuation of $110 million. The round had seen participation from institutional and private investors like Marshland Capital, Launchpool Labs, Moonrock Capital, and others.
This fundraise of $100 million, in the company's Series A round, was from UK-based SRAM & MRAM group at a post-money valuation of $1.5 billion.
The funds will be used for business expansion and extending the company's mark on North America, Asia, and Europe while making India its core focus. Currently, 70% of the company's workforce is Indian. Moreover, the company also aims to hire talent across different fields like product, engineering, marketing, etc., and invest in strengthening its blockchain further.
This funding makes 5ire, India's 105th unicorn and the 20th in 2022 itself.
Furthermore, a5irelongside Oxyzo and PhysicsWallah, 5ire is the third Indian-origin unicorn to become a unicorn in its Series-A funding.
Article by Aman Agarwal.
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