Coinbase (YC S12) raises $5M from Union Square Ventures, largest financing round yet for a Bitcoin startup

by Y Combinator5/7/2013

Eleven-month-old startup Coinbase announced Tuesday the largest funding round to date for a Bitcoin startup, a $5 million investment led by Union Square Ventures.

In an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, Coinbase’s founders Fred Ehrsam and Brian Armstrong said the Series A deal–which followed a seed round in September 2012 of $600,000–will help the San Francisco company cover operating costs and hire engineers, designers and business-support staff.

“We need 10 people yesterday,” said Ehrsam, a 24-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader. Armstrong, 30, was previously a software engineer at peer-to-peer housing startup Airbnb.

Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal

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  • Y Combinator

    Y Combinator created a new model for funding early stage startups. Twice a year we invest a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200). The startups move to Silicon