Ledger, a blockchain security provider that offers products for the blockchain market, including service appliances for enterprise, bitcoin hardware wallets for consumers and embedded solutions for connected objects, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by MAIF Avenir, bringing total funding to $8.5 million, according to a company blog. Participating in the round were Digital Currency Group, Xange, Libertus Capital, Wicklow Capital, GDTRE, BHB Network, The Whittemore Collection, Kima Ventures and Nicolas Pinto.
The new funding, which follows a $1.5 million round in 2015, will be used to develop the sales, marketing, engineering and support teams through the recruitment of 20 new collaborators. It will help accelerate the launch of a new enterprise security product for cryptocurrencies, opening new lines of revenues for Ledger.
Enterprise Grade Security
Ledger’s enterprise-grade cryptocurrency security solutions, such as multi-currency, multi-signature, time-locked payments, are designed for financial institutions, marketplaces and hedge funds.
Ledger, which has more than 50,000 units in 130 countries, will also capitalize on industrial blockchain use cases with the goal of licensing its hardware oracle technology in the supply chain, smart grid and IoT security fields.
Ledger’s new enterprise-grade cold storage solution is founded on hardware authenticators and the Hardware Security Module. The turnkey SaaS hardware/software suite supports multi-signature, multi-currency, rate limiting and time locking. The fully-trustless solution has emergency recovery procedures that are available even in the case of force majeure.
A Versatile Security System
There is no limit on the number of cryptocurrencies and segregated accounts that one entity can manage. Each account has its own rules that are enforced by hardware devices. A payment request, for example, has to be approved by two of three administrators and will only be executed after a 72-hour lockup time (time oracle). Such security level limits the risk of internal theft as well as external physical threats.
Ledger’s low-footprint crypto-embedded operating system designed for Secure Enclaves and Secure Elements enables full orchestration of code and systems directly from the secure core.
BitGo, a multi-signature bitcoin wallet, announced earlier this year it will offer Ledger’s hardware-based key storage. The integration is available for the Ledger Nano S and Nano Blue. Ledger Nano S and Ledger Nano Blue wallets secure digital identities and cryptocurrencies.
Partners Support Direction
“We believe Ledger’s hardware and software solutions will be critical to the broader adoption of blockchain technology by both consumers and enterprises,” said Barry Silbert, Digital Currency Group founder and CEO. “Bringing Ledger into DCG’s global ecosystem of companies will help accelerate collaboration and innovation around security, a critical skill for any company leveraging applied cryptography or blockchain technology.”
“In a world that desperately needs data protection, Ledger has been the first to use secure chip technology to protect data and application in a way the user can adopt,” said Gabriele Domenichini, BHB Network head of venture. “Cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications are the ideal training ground for Ledger to expand to many other aspects of cybersecurity.”
Also read: Bitgo enhances its security with Ledger’s hardware based key storage
Security A Major Challenge
“Securing blockchain assets such as bitcoin and Ethereum is one of the greatest challenges in the digital asset space currently,” said Pamir Gelenbe, Libertus Capital managing partner. “Ledger is the leader in this field both for individuals and enterprises,”
“By investing in Ledger, MAIF intends to contribute to the development of the blockchain ecosystem, a new source of confidence to record transactions, based on peer-to-peer exchanges,” said Jean-Marc Willmann, MAIF deputy general director. “MAIF is proud to support Ledger into its objective to become the world leader in distributed trust.”
“We are delighted to co-lead this new round of funding and renew our trust after Xange’s seed investment in 2015,” said Cyril Bertrand, Xange managing partner. “We hear from many customers of Ledger. We believe it is one the most trustworthy teams of security experts in the world.”
Willmann joins Ledger’s board of directors, alongside CEO Eric Larchevêque, CTO Nicolas Bacca, COO Joël Pobeda, Netatmo CEO Frederic Potter, Bertrand and Pascal Gauthier, ex-COO at Criteo and Venture Partner at Mosaic Ventures.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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