Chainalysis raises $170 million in 6th funding round with $8.6 billion valuation

© Reuters. The logo of Chainalysis is seen on their exhibition stand at the Delta Summit, Malta's official Blockchain and Digital Innovation event promoting cryptocurrency, in Ta' Qali, Malta October 3, 2019. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chainalysis, the New York-based blockchain data platform company, said on Thursday it had raised $170 million of new funding, bringing its valuation to $8.6 billion.

The funding round, its sixth since the company's launch, was led by GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. Previous investors such as Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK), and venture capital firm Accel also participated.

"There is a whole transformation happening where the world of finance's operating systems are moving to crypto. Our company will have a big opportunity in this market," Michael Gronager, Chainalysis co-founder and chief executive officer told Reuters in a phone interview.

"We are growing in regions such as Europe and Asia-Pacific. So far up until now, we had basically no presence in South America, so that is another growth area for us. Clearly, we're investing in international expansions," he added.

While government agencies have long acknowledged the importance of blockchain data and analysis, demand has reached new highs in the past year for risk management and business intelligence products from exchanges, decentralized finance platforms, and financial institutions entering the cryptocurrency space, Chainalysis said in a statement.

Crypto's increasing adoption and acceptance have also led to greater regulatory scrutiny, furthering demand from institutional users for Chainalysis services.

GIC and BNY Mellon confirmed their investment in Chainalysis in a statement. Blackstone and Accel also confirmed their investments in separate e-mails to Reuters.

"Chainalysis is in a unique position of running an SaaS (software as a service) business in the cryptocurrency space due to the stability of its business model as well as the increasing demand for trust and safety in the overall industry," said Choo Yong Cheen, chief investment officer of private equity at GIC.

SaaS is also referred to as "on-demand" software.

BNY Mellon said its investment in Chainalysis was a "natural progression" of an already established and "productive alliance".

In June last year, Chainalysis raised $100 million, led by investment firm Coatue.