The Series A was reportedly led by venture capital giants Greenoaks and Thrive Capital.
A month after launching the venture from incubation, the Stripe and Paradigm-founded Tempo has reportedly raised $500m.
The fresh Series A round was led by venture capital giants Greenoaks and Thrive Capital according to Fortune, which cited people familiar with the matter. Sequoia, Ribbit Capital and SV Angel also took part in the round.
The raise values the young blockchain start-up at $5bn – making it one of the highest valued blockchain venture rounds in recent memory.
Tempo is created with the idea of complementing the existing crypto infrastructure by offering a way for large enterprises to come on chain, increasing crypto adoption.
It is a Layer 1 blockchain, meaning it is not built on top of other protocols – similar to Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana.
The blockchain’s design partners include Anthropic, OpenAI, Revolut, Visa and Standard Chartered, which provide the new business with industry-leading input on AI, e-commerce and financial services.
Fortune commented that the venture and the backing behind it represents a bet that dollar-backed cryptocurrencies could become the new infrastructure layer for global payments.
Paradigm, a crypto investment firm, was co-founded in 2018 by Matt Huang – also a former Sequoia partner. According to 2024 data from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the venture has roughly $12.7bn in assets under management.
Meanwhile, Stripe, one of the largest fintechs globally, was valued at more than $90bn this year. In 2024, the fintech generated $1.4trn in total payment volume.
The Irish-founded company has been showing strong interest in cryptocurrency, bringing back crypto payments as part of its services after taking a years-long hiatus. In June, Stripe acquired the US-based crypto wallet provider Privy for an undisclosed sum.
While last year, the company acquired stablecoin platform Bridge in a $1.1bn deal, which marked the largest acquisition for the company.
Tempo will be led by Huang with its own full-time team, separate from both Paradigm and Stripe.
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