KR1 PLC’s Argent Labs completes US$12mln fundraising

() said its portfolio firm, Argent Labs, has successfully completed a ‘Series A’ fundraising round for US$12mln, giving it a post-money valuation of US$45mln.

The blockchain and crypto investor said Argent has issued ‘Series A Shares’ with liquidity preferences to new investors. The funding round was led by Paradigm and joined by existing investors such as Index Ventures and Creandum.

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Following the completion of the funding round, KR1 said it holds a 0.578% stake in Argent, which is now valued at US$260,049.

 Argent is a mobile crypto wallet that allows digital currencies to be sent as easily to anyone, anywhere and also allows users to put their assets to work by staking or lending them out to earn a yield.

“This is a big step in our mission to help people control and benefit from their digital assets and identity. Crypto is unfamiliar to many, so we’ve cut out all the complexity and built a mobile wallet as simple as [digital banks] or Revolut, if not easier. Argent lets anyone, anywhere access new economic opportunities, exchange value as easily as an email, and enjoy digital services without sacrificing their data. It’s the next evolution of money and the internet and we couldn’t be more excited for the journey ahead”, said Argent co-founder Itamar Lesuisse.

“Itamar and the founding team are proven entrepreneurs, who have previously scaled applications to tens of millions of users, so they know how to build for scale. Argent is building the best wallet in crypto to onboard the next billions of dollars and bring financial empowerment to millions of users through crypto. We are tremendously excited about what Argent has launched so far and for the road ahead”, added Keld van Schreven, managing director and co-founder of KR1.

KR1 shares were trading at around 7.5p on the Aquis Exchange in late-afternoon on Tuesday.