Ledger Hardware Wallet Raises $7 Million in Series A Funding

The rapidly growing cryptocurrency community, combined with proportionally increasing cyber threats has made security a top priority for many. These recent developments have created an ideal market for hardware wallet businesses. Sensing the opportunity, few leading investment firms led by MAIF Avenir have invested $7 million into Ledger.

One of the popular hardware cryptocurrency wallet makers, Ledger has announced a successful Series A fundraising round for $7 million. Other investors in the business alongside MAIF Avenir includes XAnage, Wicklow Capital, GDTRE, Libertus Capital, Digital Currency Group, The Whittemore Collection, Kima Ventures, BHB Network and Nicolas Pinto.

Currently, Ledger manufactures a range of hardware wallets and multi-signature enterprise security devices. The cost of Ledger products ranges from EUR 15 for Ledger HW.1 to EUR 229 for Ledger Blue personal security device. The hardware wallet devices created by Ledger supports not only Bitcoin but also a range of other altcoins including Ethereum, Dogecoin, ZCash, Dash and Stratis tokens.

The French company’s hardware wallets run tasks directly on the secure element, similar to the ones used for authentication and encryption/decryption in mobile phones and other devices. It ensures that all transactional activities carried out on the device are secure. Speaking about the security of the hardware on a leading tech news platform, the CEO and co-founder of Ledger Eric Larcheveque said,

“When we manufacture the devices, all chips receive a Ledger certificate. When the device boots up, the computer sends a security challenge and the device answers.”

The security setup implemented in the device ensures that the wallets’ private keys remain private. In addition, the hardware also constantly checks for the firmware’s integrity to prevent exploitation of any potential loopholes. The hardware wallet sales figures of the company stand proof of the increasing demand for such devices. Exceeding the expectations, users have bought over 50,000 devices so far, most of them in the past few months.

With the recent funding, Ledger might start to expand its enterprise security and authentication solutions. There are also speculations of the company’s potential foray into creating devices and solutions for financial institutions, hedge funds, and even energy companies.

Ref: TechCrunch | Image: Ledger