Highlight:

  • Ledger creates hardware goods and services to assist businesses and consumers in safeguarding their blockchain-based cryptocurrency tokens and money.
  • Ledger Nano X and Ledger Nano S Plus are small enough to fit in your pocket and can connect to phones or other devices to help individuals manage crypto transactions.

Ledger SAS, a startup based in Paris that produces hardware for cryptocurrency wallets, recently announced that it has successfully raised the majority of a USD 109 million funding round.

According to Bloomberg, the company’s valuation is still around USD 1.4 billion, about the same as in June 2021 when Ledger raised USD 380 million in a titanic funding round, a Series C funding round.

True Global Ventures, Digital Finance Group, Cité Gestion SPV, and VaynerFund are just a few new investors the company has attracted. Current backers 10T, Morgan Creek, Cap Horn, and Cathay Innovation also took part in the round.

Ledger creates hardware goods and services to assist businesses and consumers in safeguarding their blockchain-based cryptocurrency tokens and money. Current products from the company resemble USB keys and have tiny screens that let users confirm transactions and take action without using the internet.

Because the private keys that stand in for a user’s cryptocurrency wallet can be stored in a hardware wallet and are secured by a secure chip, they never leave the wallet and provide security. When sending or receiving crypto tokens, the device is linked to another device, like a computer or smartphone, and the user directly authenticates the transaction.

Users are prompted to enter a “recovery phrase,” a string of 24 words that serve as their wallet address when a hardware wallet starts up. They can use it to restore their Ledger account on a new wallet if their device is damaged, lost, or stolen.

The Ledger Nano X and Ledger Nano S Plus are two of Ledger’s most popular products. Both are small enough to fit in your pocket and can connect to phones or other devices to help individuals manage crypto transactions. The Nano X is also equipped with Bluetooth, making it easier to connect to a phone and manage crypto and nonfungible tokens.

Ledger Stax is a device about the size of a credit card with an E Ink display that can connect with Bluetooth and is now available for pre-order. It has the same security as every other Ledger device, but the screen is much bigger, so users can see what they’re doing and change pictures on the touchscreen.

Customers can also use the company’s app, Ledger Live, to buy, sell, and trade crypto directly or connect their wallets to other apps using blockchain technology.

There can be a lot of security problems in the crypto business, and there have been a lot of stories about hackers and scams. Because of this, users have been looking for better ways to protect their tokens, which has helped Ledger’s bottom line.

Most of Ledger’s sales have come from the recent chaos in cryptocurrency exchanges, such as the sudden fall of FTX Trading Ltd. and its bankruptcy. When FTX shut down, many people with their assets on the platform couldn’t access them anymore. This caused some people to take their assets off of other exchanges. “Not your keys, not your crypto” is a cry that is often heard in the crypto community.

“Suddenly people were like, ‘Wow, to leave crypto on an exchange is actually dangerous,'” Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier told Bloomberg in an interview. “And 2023 is even better for us because you can’t even leave money at a Swiss bank anymore.”

The company made the most money in November, right after FTX left. Because of this, Ledger Live’s income doubled from one year to the next. Ledger also said it stores over 20% of all cryptocurrencies and 30% of all nonfungible tokens worldwide.

Gauthier said that Ledger will use the new money to grow its network of distributors and make more and better products. This will help the company keep up with the growing demand and grow its business.