Algorand announces major funding, key senior exec hires

Algorand, a blockchain startup founded by MIT professor and Turing Award winner Silvio Micali, has announced the closure of a $62 million equity investment round, involving the likes of Pillar Venture Capital and Union Square Ventures.

Meanwhile, Steve Kokinos, Co-founder and Chairman at Fuze, and W. Sean Ford, Co-founder of uPromise and former CMO of LogMeIn, are joining the venture as CEO and COO respectively.

“The $62 million comes from a broad global investment group representing the venture capital, cryptocurrency, and financial services communities. The funding, combined with the executive hires, will help launch the revolutionary blockchain protocol designed by Silvio Micali,” the company says in a statement.

“Algorand is a company uniquely approaching the blockchain and cryptocurrency space from both a technology and business perspective,” says Jamie Goldstein, Founding Partner, Pillar Venture Capital.

“Silvio Micali is an award-winning cryptographer, and the technology he and his team have developed has the potential to transform industries. With the addition of Steve and Sean, he is now joined by a senior leadership team that has deep expertise in building enterprise companies at scale.”

“We have been developing Algorand as a technology for several years with the ultimate goal of creating a business-ready protocol for a truly global and decentralised economy,” comments Micali.

“Our team of scientists is comprised of some of the most accomplished minds in cryptography, theory, and finance, and we are very excited to add the proven business acumen we need to help bring our protocol to market.”