R3 Gets $107 Million Funding

Blockchain consortium R3 CEV secured $107 million in funding to accelerate development of its Corda distributed-ledger platform, in what the group calls the largest investment in the technology to date.

The funding is the first two of three tranches in R3’s series A fundraising round. These first two tranches are available only to R3 members but the third and last tranche will be accessible to non-members as well.

David Rutter, R3 CEO, said the funding will help the consortium develop industry solutions in blockchain.

“This investment is unprecedented. Many of the world’s largest financial firms have come together not just with capital support but with a robust commitment to work with R3 in developing industry solutions that will be the building blocks of the new financial services infrastructure,” Rutter said. “R3 has proven the collaborative model can successfully drive innovation in financial services to a degree never before seen.”

R3 will use the funds to accelerate its technology development and expand product deployment partnerships. In particular, it wants to focus on its Corda platform for regulated financial institutions and its infrastructure network.

The investment comes from over 40 firms including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of Montreal, BBVA, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, ING, Mizuho, Nomura, Northern Trust, Royal Bank of Canada, Society Generale, TD Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, US Bank, UBS, and Wells Fargo.

R3 recently saw a spate of departures from its membership with banks like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Santander. At the time, R3 said the exits were due to institutions wanting to consolidate blockchain initiatives they are involved in and, in the case of JPMorgan, to pursue a distinct technology path.

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• Topics
• R3 CEV
• Management & Strategy
• Industry Issues & Initiatives
• Blockchain