Encryption has a new unicorn. Open Platform, one of the leading application developers for messaging application Telegram Select Blockchain, announced Thursday that it has raised $28.5 million in Series A, with a valuation of $1 billion.
Fintech expert Ribbit Capital leads the round, encrypting the participation of VC Pantera Capital. Andrew Rogozov, co-founder and CEO of Open Platform, told wealth. He added that the open platform also calls it the top, raising over $70 million in total in multiple funding rounds.
TOP is one of the key companies for a blockchain application called “Open Network” or “TON”. The blockchain is closely linked to Telegram, one of the world’s most popular messaging applications. According to Telegram founder Pavel Durov, it’s a complex entity, Mishmash, but the result is that the top is helping to integrate Crypto into an application with over 1 billion users.
This coverage has VCS salivating. Investors at Ribbit Capital and Pantera noted that Telegram included a large user base in the statement contained in the “Top’s Raise” included in the press release. “The opportunity to support groundbreaking technology and financial products that reach 1 billion people is encouraging,” said Ryan Barney, partner at Pantera.
They are not the only ones who are excited. In March, another blockchain-related entity, Ton Foundation, explain Sequoia Capital, benchmark Ventures, Draper Associates, and of course Ribbit and other VCs have accumulated $400 million in cryptocurrency.
Wallet in the telegram
Just like the miishmash of entities participating in the blockchain selected by Telegram, Top, Ton and Toncoin’s origins are far from simple.
In 2018, Durov and Telegraph raised $1.7 billion after selling cryptocurrency to support the development of a blockchain called Telegram Open Network or Ton. In 2019, the proposed Securities and Exchange Commission stopped products that were allegedly illegal securities, and in 2020, regulators and telegraphs reached a settlement. The messaging app agreed to refund more than $1.2 billion to investors and pay a $18.5 million fine.
While the Telegram appears to be a distance from cryptocurrency, other developers continue to work behind the scenes of technology, including Rogozov.
In 2023, Telegram Ointment The new version of TON is its preferred exclusive blockchain. That same year, Rogozov and two other co-founders included top companies in the top class, according to the Abu Dhabi business registry where the company is located.
The top is the main developer behind the tons of the most prominent crypto wallets, aptly called the wallet in the telegram. Outside the US and Europe, the app Telegram has integrated its wallet into its main menu for users in Russia, Asia and elsewhere.
Rogozov plans to use a new capital injection to expand his wallet to the United States and Europe. “We need to support everything related to compliance, operations and stuff, right?” he said. “Building is very expensive.”
He and his team also plan to use the money to incubate other ton-based projects, including blockchain games and AI applications.
Rogozov said in Top’s A Series A Series, Ribbit acquired 4% of the company, Pantera received about 1% of the ball, and another investor participated in the round but refused to name it publicly. According to the Abu Dhabi Business Registration, other shareholders include Kingsway Capital and Brevin Howard Hood Hood Hu.
