Other prominent investors that participated include Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, US investment firm Tiger Global, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) venture arm SCB 10X and existing investor a16z. Crypto-specific investors such as L1 Digital and Folius Ventures also joined the round.
Singapore-based Nansen analyses on-chain data, wallet labels and entities on blockchains including Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Fantom, Avalanche and Celo. It also tracks decentralised finance (DeFi) projects and non-fungible token (NFT) trades.
Clients, including DeFiance Capital, Genesis Block Ventures, Polygon and the team behind Axie Infinity, use Nansen’s services to make informed decisions.
The latest financing brings Nansen’s total fundraising to just over US$88 million. The company, founded in 2020, last raised US$12 million in a Series A round led by a16z in June, valuing it at between US$70 million and US$80 million, a source told DealStreetAsia.
Nansen plans to use the latest funds to expand its business, hire more people, acquire companies with “complementary data assets and content”, and introduce new products.
For example, it recently released a function that allows users like data analysts to extract raw on-chain data to create their own customised dashboards and aggregates.
Alex Svanevik, Nansen co-founder and chief executive, told DealStreetAsia the latest round brings on board strategic backers with experience scaling Software-as-a-Service companies and could help them access more institutional users.
The geographical diversity of the investors — the US, Singapore and Thailand — also helps to open doors in the various regions.
“We want Nansen to be a sort of gateway into the crypto world, both for individuals and institutions,” Svanevik said.
“If you’re an institutional player from the traditional finance world, having high-quality information is probably the first thing that you will get before diving into this world. There’s effectively no institutional player that’s just going to dive headfirst into crypto.”
Hiring will be another big focus for Nansen. Instead of poaching staff from other crypto firms, the company will look for people in banking and technology.
“Hiring people is a great way to get them into the crypto space,” he said, especially when it’s an area with no shortage of capital but people who understand it well. Nansen currently has over 70 employees and is looking for at least another 30.
Nansen will also begin tracking Web 3.0 gaming activities next year, which Svanevik expects to grow massively due to the metaverse boom.