Jan 9 (Reuters) - Stablecoin firm Rain said on Friday it has raised $250 million in a funding round led by ICONIQ, valuing the company at $1.95 billion, as investor interest in the crypto sector continues to grow.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to hold a steady value by being pegged to assets such as the U.S. dollar. They are gaining traction with investors, consumers and large financial institutions as interest in digital assets broadens.
The sector has benefited from a more accommodating
stance by regulators under the Trump administration, easing the path for traditional financial firms to explore crypto products.
The latest series C round brings Rain's total funding to more than $338 million and comes four months after its previous one. The company said its valuation has increased more than seventeen-fold in just 10 months.
Rain provides businesses with infrastructure to issue and manage stablecoin-linked payment cards and wallets, enabling users to transact any place, where Visa is accepted.
"Stablecoins are quickly becoming the way money moves in the 21st century, but adoption by users worldwide requires cards and apps that just work," Rain's CEO and Co-founder Farooq Malik said in a statement.
"In the last year, our active card base has increased 30x and our annualized payment volume has increased 38x, but we're still in the early innings."
He added that the capital would be used to enter new markets, scale and support more enterprise launches.
Other investors in the latest round included Sapphire Ventures, Dragonfly, Bessemer Venture Partners, Galaxy Ventures, FirstMark, Lightspeed, Norwest and Endeavor Catalyst.
(Reporting by Pragyan Kalita in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
