Exclusive: Telegram blockchain startup TOP raises $28.5 million as messaging platform expands crypto footprint

SEE FULL BIOTelegram is one of the most messaging apps in the world

Silas Stein—picture alliance/Getty ImagesCrypto has a new unicorn

The Open Platform, one of the main app developers on the blockchain chosen by the messaging app Telegram, announced Thursday that it had raised a $28. 5 million Series A at a $1 billion valuation

The fin specialist Ribbit Capital led the round, with participation from the crypto VC Pantera Capital

TOP is one of the key companies working on apps for the blockchain called The Open Network, or TON

And that blockchain is closely associated with Telegram, one of the world’s most messaging apps

It’s a complicated mishmash of entities, but the upshot is that TOP is helping spearhead the integration of crypto into an app that boasts more than one billion users, according to Telegram founder Pavel Durov

That reach has VCs salivating

Investors at Ribbit Capital and Pantera pointed to Telegram’s large user base in statements included in a press release for TOP’s raise. “The opportunity to support ground and financial ducts that reach one billion people is inspiring,” said Ryan Barney, a partner at Pantera

And they’re not the only ones who are excited

In March, the TON Foundation, another entity tied to the blockchain, said VCs Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Ventures, Draper Associates, and, of course, Ribbit had accumulated $400 million of TON’s cryptocurrency

Wallet in Telegram Just the mishmash of entities involved in Telegram’s chosen blockchain, the origins of TOP, TON, and Toncoin are far from simple

While Telegram seemed to distance itself from crypto, other developers continued to work on the discarded behind the scenes, including Rogozov

That same year, Rogozov incorporated TOP, according to a registry in Abu Dhabi, where the company is based

TOP is the main developer behind TON’s most minent crypto wallet, aptly called Wallet in Telegram

And Europe, Telegram, the app, has integrated the wallet into its main and is available to users in Russia, Asia, and other geographies

Rogozov plans to use the new injection of capital to expand the wallet into the U

And Europe. “We need to support everything related to compliance, operations and stuff, right. “That’s very expensive to build. ” He and his team also plan to use the money to incubate other TON-based jects, including blockchain games and AI applications

In TOP’s Series A, Ribbit acquired 4% of the company, and Pantera netted around 1%, Rogozov said

The company’s early backers are Dubai investment firm Vy Capital and Dmitry Eremeev, a Russian investor

Kingsway Capital and Brevan Howard are also backers, according to the Abu Dhabi registry

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