The wild ride of crypto continues. The price of Bitcoin is down 38% since the start of the year, creating an endless number of think pieces about what this latest “crypto crash” means for future investors. In Washington, a bipartisan group of senators proposed sweeping legislation this week to put more regulations around cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
Despite these looming changes and uncertainty, Atlanta-based Ledgible sees opportunity. “More and more traditional institutions, financial and otherwise, are realizing the importance of crypto and the underlying blockchain technology by the day,” Jeff Gapusan, VP of Strategy, told Hypepotamus.
The team raised a $20 million Series A round this week to help scale its crypto-focused tax and accounting platform.
The round was led by Virginia-based EJF Silvergate Ventures Fund, with additional investments coming from JAM FINTOP, Thomson Reuters Ventures, TTV Capital, Fenbushi US, Commerce Ventures, Nathan McCauley, and Perkins Coie.
Jonathan Bresler, Managing Director at EJF, said the investment team sees Ledgible as the “preferred solution to account for digital assets on the blockchain.”
The funding round will help the startup position itself as a “bridge between traditional finance and cryptocurrency,” Trevor English, VP of Marketing at Ledgible, told Hypepotamus. “Crypto markets and regulations are constantly changing – it’s the nature of the space – and at Ledgible, our mission is taking the confusion out of the handling crypto.”
Ledgible’s platform is designed to help CPAs and tax professionals at institutions better manage crypto data. That is particularly important for those running month-end reporting, analyzing balances, and managing crypto funds.
“Ledgible enables financial institutions, professional service providers, and crypto-forward companies to formulate their digital asset strategies and offer crypto products to their clients as part of their existing business and technology framework. This is integral to the continuing mainstream acceptance of crypto around the world,” Gapusan added.
The startup, run by CEO Kell Canty, has evolved over the years. It was first known as Verady and is backed by local investors at TechSquare Labs, Engage, and TTV Capital, along with Pamela A. Joseph and Frank Bishop. It raised a $1 million pre-seed round in 2018.
The Ledgible platform officially launched this January as a central tax and accounting platform for crypto assets.
The team has 18 people on the payroll, 7 of whom are based in Atlanta. English told Hypepotamus that the team will grow to 30 “in the next months.”
Founded in 2017, the team behind Ledgible is one of the “originals” working in the crypto space.
Other “originals” include Bakkt, the digital asset platform that went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, Yellow Card, BitPay, and Fold.
Those have given way to a new crop of Blockchain-related startups in the city over the last two years. These are looking to put Atlanta on the map for Blockchain technology developments addressing pressing issues in healthcare, FinTech, and the emerging Web3 space.
