The Bitcoin Bandwagon just got bigger. OpenCoin announced they closed an angel funding round from:
- Andreessen Horowitz
- FF Angel IV
- Lightspeed Venture Partners
- Vast Ventures
- Bitcoin Opportunity Fund
The amount of the investment was not disclosed. But the funding will be geared toward helping the company expand the OpenCoin’s open source, decentralized payment system and virtual currency, Ripple protocol, currently in beta.
What is the upside of virtual currencies like Ripple? Easier online and mobile transactions and thwarting the fee-collecting capacity of contemporary payment networks are among the main promises. OpenCoin is led by CEO Chris Larsen, who was co-founder of E-LOAN and Prosper, and CTO Jed McCaleb. McCaleb created the largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, in 2010.
OpenCoin was in the news recently for its acquisition of SimpleHoney. We covered the announcement here.
See OpenCoin demo its Ripple technology at FinovateSpring in San Francisco in May. To find out more about the event, visit our information page here.