Brightcove founder Jeremy Allaire launched his latest startup venture, Circle Internet Financial, on Thursday with $9 million in Series A funding. Jim Breyer, Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners all participated in the round. Breyer will be joining the company's Board of Directors along with David Orfao of General Catalyst.
The three investors also funded Allaire's previous company, Boston-based Brightcove, the online video platform that filed for its IPO in 2012. Allaire still serves as the company's chairman. He also founded Allaire Corp, which had a successful IPO in 1999 and was acquired by Macromedia in 2001.
Allaire wants his new company to push the adoption of digital currencies, like Bitcoin, into the mainstream by providing acceptance tools for merchants and simple utility services to consumers.
Digital currency has been making a fair amount of noise in international headlines as of late. Earlier this week, a story circulated online about an Oslo man who bought $27 worth of Bitcoin in 2009, forgot about it, and is now sitting on $886,000. A Bitcoin exchange will be opening in London next month, but will only be open to investors from the U.K. and Europe. CoinLab and Mt. Gox are currently embroiled in a lawsuit disputing which company has the rights to North American Bitcoin exchange.
There are few regulations that pertain to virtual currency, whereas it would take more than a human lifetime to read all the laws and regulations concerning brick-and-mortar banks.
This lack of rules means the digital currency space is still volatile. Naďve investors have lost substantial amounts of money to scams.
All things considered though, Allaire sees the very real potential in this space.
“Bitcoin and digital currency represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape the future of the Internet and global commerce,” said Allaire in the press release. “There’s a tremendous opportunity to make payments easier, more secure and less costly for consumers and businesses. Digital currency can dramatically reduce the friction and costs currently experienced in the world by merchants and consumers.”
According to the release, Circle is regulated by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network "FinCEN" – a bureau of the U.S. Department of Treasury – as a money transmitter and is seeking appropriate state licenses.
To learn more about Bitcoin, check out this video.
