Ledger raises $75 million in Series B round

Hardware wallet company Ledger announced late last week it raised $75 million in its Series B funding round. Venture capital firm Draper Espirit was the architect of this fundraising round. (CNBC)

The key facts

Ledger claims the investment to be one of the largest of its kind for a blockchain-related firm to date. It dwarfs that raised by BitGo and Blockchain, which achieved $42.5 million and $40 million respectively in Series B financing rounds in 2017. (CNBC)

Smart take: As technology advances, it’s usually the people/companies that make the plumbing that end up making the most money. When the Internet took over the world, the people that provided the hardware to make it run won big. Looks like blockchain is following the same path. People want secure places to store bitcoin and other cryptocurrency investments. Hardware wallets, which take the investments offline and into secure devices, provide that environment.

Blockchain accelerator gets major boost

The quick read

IBM and Comcast Ventures have agreed to back blockhain accelerator Mstate with services (IBM) and funding (Comcast Ventures). Comcast Ventures is Comcast’s venture capital arm. (Bloomberg) Galvanize’s venture fund and venture capital fund Boldstart Ventures are also backing Mstate. (Business Insider)

Key detail

The startup accelerator … plans to invest $25,000 to $50,000 apiece in five or six companies over the next six months. (Bloomberg)

Bottom line

Mstate is a chance for IBM and Comcast to identify blockchain technologies and companies much earlier in their development process than either company can right now.