Algorand, a Boston-based blockchain solutions company built for business, has announced that it has raised $62 million in funding this week. And the company also announced Steve Kokinos (Fuze co-founder and chairman) was named CEO and W. Sean Ford (uPromise co-founder and former LogMeIn CMO) is now COO of the company.
The $62 million came from a broad global investment group representing communities around venture capital, cryptocurrency, and financial services. Through the hiring of these executives combined with this funding round, Algorand plans to launch a revolutionary blockchain protocol designed by Silvio Micali, a computer scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
“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 Micali — who is also the founder of Algorand and is a 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.”
Algorand says it is able to solve the “blockchain trilemma,” which is a platform that delivers decentralization, scalability and security. And Algorand provides a foundation for existing businesses and new projects for operating globally in the emerging decentralized economy.
“Algorand is a company uniquely approaching the blockchain and cryptocurrency space from both a technology and business perspective,” added Pillar Venture Capital founding partner Jamie Goldstein. “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.”
