By Dipo Olowookere
The management of Algorand, a first-of-its-kind blockchain and cryptocurrency purpose built for business, has announced the closure of a $62 million equity investment and the addition of senior executive hires from leading global technology brands.
Steve Kokinos, co-founder and Chairman at Fuze, and W. Sean Ford, co-founder of uPromise and former CMO of LogMeIn, join Algorand as CEO and COO, respectively.
A statement from the firm explained that 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 MIT’s Silvio Micali.
“At USV, we believe that foundational innovation is required to deliver on the promise of blockchain technology,” said Albert Wenger, managing partner at Union Square Ventures. “Algorand is building a crucial part of that with their novel consensus algorithm that solves for security, decentralization and scalability.”
“Algorand is a company uniquely approaching the blockchain and cryptocurrency space from both a technology and business perspective,” said 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 decentralized economy,” said Silvio Micali, Algorand founder, MIT computer science professor and Turing Award winner. “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.”
Bringing a combined 40+ years of proven technology experience in leading disruptive brands, Kokinos and Ford offer deep and unique expertise in driving the growth of innovative tech companies. A serial entrepreneur, Kokinos has founded and grown three successful companies – Fuze, BladeLogic, and WebYes, Inc. while Ford has built a reputation for operational execution and go-to-market expertise at a variety of tech companies including uPromise, Oracle and LogMeIn.
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