(Bloomberg) —
The idea of a super app first took off in China, where WeChat is used for everything from sharing photos to hailing a taxi. A U.K. startup pledges to bring that concept to cryptocurrencies.
Argent Labs Ltd. aims to create a simple service used for buying, storing and transacting with more than 240 different Ethereum-based tokens. It also gives access to decentralized finance services, such as crypto lending platforms and decentralized exchanges.
The startup has drawn support from some of the top names in crypto investing. Argent plans to announce Thursday that it raised $40 million in a deal led by Fabric Ventures and Metaplanet. Other new investors, including Animoca Brands Corp. and Jump Trading Group, participated alongside existing ones, such as Creandum, Index Ventures and Paradigm.
Itamar Lesuisse, a former manager at Amazon.com Inc. and Visa Inc. in London, helped start Argent in 2017. The company began with a focus on improving the security of cryptocurrencies and reducing transaction fees. It now wants to enable customers to buy virtual real estate, access online games and use nonfungible tokens.
Lesuisse declined to disclose the company’s valuation. He said this will likely be the last financing made up of mostly crypto-specialized venture capital firms, which have dominated investments in blockchain startups. Argent will pursue more traditional investors in future fundraising, he said.
“We’re a crypto company today. We’re at the end of that,” Lesuisse said. “In a year, two or three years from now, we’re just a company that happens to use blockchain as a technology.”
The startup, which offers so-called smart wallets, said it has attracted more than 500,000 users and plans to double its all-remote team to around 50 people this year.
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