Money Moves: With eyes on fintech, DC’s Securrency raises $30M

Money Moves is a column where we chart the funding raises of tech companies across the region. Have a tip? Email us at dc@technical.ly.

Following in the footsteps of a $1.24 billion dollar first quarter, the head-turning funding rounds keep coming in the DMV.

This week, D.C.-based blockchain company Securrency said it raised $30 million in Series B funding. Investors included WisdomTree Investments, Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, State Street and US Bank.

This is the second raise in two years for Securrency, which specializes in institutional-grade financial and regulatory tech. In 2020, the company raised $17.65 million in Series A funding, also led by WisdomTree Investments alongside Abu Dhabi, Monex Group, RRE Ventures, Strawberry Creek Ventures and Panthera Capital Investments. 

Securrency Director of Policy and Government Relations Jackson Mueller told Technical.ly that the raise will mean company growth with hiring, as well as enable product expansion. However, he was not able to share just how much Securrency is hoping to grow its team with the raise.

“Thirty million [dollars] is a nice chunk of change to have in the wallet, and we’ll be expanding our team over the next several weeks and months,” Mueller said. “So we’re obviously looking forward to some additional manpower that can help continue to build out our technological solutions and eventually the offering of various products and services.”

Mueller added that having the involvement of companies such as US Bank and State Street in the round feels like a recognition of the need for fintech, particularly in the policy sector. He noted that a number of political representatives and institutions, including D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, have expressed interest in fintech with regards to policy.

“Having those financial institutions move in on this Series B round is kind of a testament to how important logistics solutions are in this marketplace, so all this comes at really the right time,” Mueller said.  

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D.C. Mediterranean culinary brand CAVA is looking to expand even more after completing a $190 million financing round led by T. Rowe Price. Additional investors in the round included Equilibra Partners Management, the Invus Group, Lighthouse Investment Partners, Mousse Partners, SWaN & Legend Venture Partners and DC’s Revolution Growth.

After acquiring Zoës Kitchen outlets in 2018, CAVA has plans to convert most into new locations, anticipating over 500 new CAVA outlets by 2025. About 50 are expected to be completed this year. The new funding means the company can speed up its expansion schedule.

The raise comes just a few months after CAVA launched a new app in December, and the new round of funding brings the total company value close to $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg. It has raised about $650 million since its start in 2005.

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Dutch communications platform MessageBird announced Tuesday that it agreed to acquire Columbia, Maryland-based email intelligence platform SparkPost for $600 million. With the deal, MessageBird raised a fresh $800M that will bring a recent funding round to $1 billion.

It comes at a time of growth for SparkPost. Just last month, the company announced that Michelle Byrd would be taking over as Chief People Officer following a $180 million funding round led by LLR Partners, NewSpring Capital and PNC Bank.

MessageBird CEO Robert Vis told our sister site Technical.ly Baltimore that acquiring SparkPost, which sends 40% of the world’s business email, was as much about the team as it was about the technology. It will also help the MessageBird gain a foothold in the U.S.

“Bringing SparkPost’s innovative technology into the MessageBird platform will further drive the industry forward and allow us to raise the bar again for communications between organizations and their customers,” Vis said.