A Tampa blockchain company has raised nearly $6 million after a year of massive growth, with plans to further expand in the coming year.
BlockSpaces, which was founded in 2017 and offers a business blockchain integration platform, exclusively told the Business Journal it raised $5.75 million in an oversubscribed venture seed round. BlockSpaces previously raised $1.2 million March 2021, after a $250,000 round, bringing its total to $7.2 million.
"We have so much traction and with the attention Florida is getting, there are no questions if Tampa is on the map," Rosa Shores, BlockSpaces' co-founder and CEO, said. "It was such an obstacle for me when I was raising that first round. It was very challenging being from Tampa, and that's not the case this time around. Part of [the success] was already having a lead investor, but nobody is like, 'Tampa?' No one is saying that anymore."
San Francisco-based Leadout Capital led the latest round. It previously participated in funding BlockSpaces. Steve Brownlie, general partner at Leadout Capital, will join BlockSpaces board of directors.
Virginia-based QED Investors' seed fund BOLT, Tampa-based Druid Ventures, Austin-based GTMfund and Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, also participated, along with returning investors Brighter Capital, BlockFund Ventures and Tampa tech entrepreneur Tony DiBenedetto.
“We are excited to continue to support the BlockSpaces team in building an infrastructure platform that will expand business access to blockchain based [innovation]," Brownlie said in a statement. “We believe [BlockSpaces'] offering will unlock the value of blockchain projects deployed by businesses of all sizes with ease of participation in the rapid adoption and expansion of multiple use cases including decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens.”
According to Shores, the company had a 40 times increase in revenue and 20 times increase in customers. It also grew from three employees in January 2021 to 21 by the end of the year. It anticipates doubling staff in the next eight months.
"We’re growing so fast it's unbelievable," Shores said.
The company is currently headquartered at Tampa-based startup hub Embarc Collective. It will be looking at a Series A at the end of 2022 for an undisclosed amount.
The funding success comes as a wave of interest in the Tampa Bay technology scene continues to rise, especially in the blockchain and cryptocurrency field. There's Nuke Goldstein, co-founder of New York-based Celsius, who bought a home in Tampa after visiting for one day. Funds like RSK Trading Group LLC launched locally after its then-Chicago founder moved to the region. Blockchain startups have also hit new heights, including Pocket Network, which earned $9.3 million six months after launching.
"They love it and being here, I think there will be more attention," Shores said. "With people like [Ark Investment Management's CEO] Cathie Wood coming here — that's not a fad. It will have massive long ripples in the community."
