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Payments Startup Celo Raises $20M From a16z, Electric Capital

Celo offers a blockchain payments platform using customers' cellphone numbers to secure their public keys.

Updated May 9, 2023, 3:15 a.m. Published Feb 10, 2021, 1:21 p.m.

Mobile-focused blockchain payments startup Celo has raised $20 million from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Greenfield One and Electric Capital.

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According to a press release on Wednesday, the funding will go towards fleshing out its suite of offerings.

Celo is a proof-of-stake blockchain built on Ethereum, designed to support stablecoins and tokenized assets, while utilizing cellphone numbers to secure a user's public keys.

To date, the startup says it has raised more than $65 million from high-profile industry backers including Polychain Capital, Reid Hoffman, Jack Dorsey, Coinbase Ventures, among others.

"We now have the technology to create a better financial system, a rich ecology of digital assets and products that allow individuals and organizations to ... transact and manage risk,” said Celo co-founder Rene Reinsberg.

Since Celo's initial development in 2017, the project has launched a mainnet, a native token (CELO), a stablecoin (cUSD), a mobile payments app and has been listed on major exchanges including Coinbase and Binance.

Funding Rounds A16z Celo DeFi

Sebastian Sinclair

Sebastian Sinclair is the market and news reporter for CoinDesk operating in the South East Asia timezone. He has experience trading in the cryptocurrency markets, providing technical analysis and covering news developments affecting the movements on bitcoin and the industry as a whole. He currently holds no cryptocurrencies.