Algorand Secures $62M in Funding and Announces Appointment of Executive Team
24.10.2018 11:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Algorand, a first-of-its-kind blockchain and cryptocurrency purpose built for business, announced today the closure of a $62M equity investment and the addition of senior executive hires from leading global technology brands. Steve Kokinos, co-founder and Chairman at Fuze, and W. Sean Ford, co-founder of uPromise and former CMO of LogMeIn, join Algorand as CEO and COO, respectively. The $62M comes from a broad global investment group representing the venture capital, cryptocurrency, and financial services communities. The funding, combined with the executive hires, will help launch the revolutionary blockchain protocol designed by MIT’s Silvio Micali.
“At USV we believe that foundational innovation is required to deliver on the promise of blockchain technology,” said Albert Wenger, managing partner at Union Square Ventures. “Algorand is building a crucial part of that with their novel consensus algorithm that solves for security, decentralization and scalability.”
“Algorand is a company uniquely approaching the blockchain and cryptocurrency space from both a technology and business perspective,” said Jamie Goldstein, founding partner, Pillar Venture Capital. “Silvio Micali is an award-winning cryptographer, and the technology he and his team have developed has the potential to transform industries. With the addition of Steve and Sean, he is now joined by a senior leadership team that has deep expertise in building enterprise companies at scale.”
“We have been developing Algorand as a technology for several years with the ultimate goal of creating a business-ready protocol for a truly global and decentralized economy,” said Silvio Micali, Algorand founder, MIT computer science professor and Turing Award winner. “Our team of scientists is comprised of some of the most accomplished minds in cryptography, theory, and finance, and we are very excited to add the proven business acumen we need to help bring our protocol to market.”
Bringing a combined 40+ years of proven technology experience in leading disruptive brands, Kokinos and Ford offer deep and unique expertise in driving the growth of innovative tech companies. A serial entrepreneur, Kokinos has founded and grown three successful companies – Fuze, BladeLogic, and WebYes, Inc. while Ford has built a reputation for operational execution and go-to-market expertise at a variety of tech companies including uPromise, Oracle and LogMeIn.
About Algorand
Based in Boston, and founded by cryptography
pioneer and Turing award winner Silvio Micali, Algorand solves the “blockchain
trilemma” with a platform that delivers decentralization,
scalability and security. Algorand provides a foundation for existing
businesses and new projects to operate globally in the emerging
decentralized economy. Algorand’s first-of-its-kind, permissionless, pure
proof-of-stake protocol supports the scale, open participation, and
transaction finality required to build systems for billions of users.
For more information, visit https://www.algorand.com/.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181024005053/en/
Contact information
March Communications
Samantha Powers, 617-960-8896
algorand@marchcomms.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Imagine Dragons to Perform at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix21.5.2026 18:51:00 EEST | Press release
Ethara, organiser of the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, have announced that one of the world’s biggest bands, Imagine Dragons, will headline the Saturday After-Race Concerts at the F1 Season Finale in Abu Dhabi. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260521214839/en/ Imagine Dragons to perform at Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Photo: AETOSWire) The announcement is another landmark moment for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, whose thrilling Yasalam presented by e& fan entertainment offering has become synonymous with the F1 Championship finale in Abu Dhabi and is recognised as one of the most compelling sports and entertainment crossovers globally. The global chart-toppers join Lewis Capaldi and Zara Larsson, who are set to kick off a blockbuster line-up of performances on Yas Island on Thursday, 3 December, with more major international artists to be revealed. With their popular top hits, Ima
Otovo Hits 30,000 Customers in Under a Year, Tackling the Growing ‘Solar Service Crisis’21.5.2026 17:25:00 EEST | Press release
Otovo ASA (“Otovo”), a leading global energy service provider for residential and commercial customers, today announced it has reached 30,000 customers across the U.S. and Europe. A total of 20,000 customers have enrolled in Otovo Care, the Company’s membership-based home and commercial energy service, which is powered by Otovo’s industry-leading AI platform, Endurance™. “Reaching 30,000 customers in less than year is proof positive that home and business owners value their power systems,” said William J. (John) Berger, CEO of Otovo. “The ‘solar service crisis’ that is leaving millions of orphaned energy systems without support is driving strong interest in our Otovo Care membership program. Every day your home or commercial power system is not working, you are throwing money away. Otovo’s rapid response service platform keeps you up and running, ensuring your investment is delivering.” The rapid growth of the residential solar market created a growing population of “orphaned” solar sy
Carnegie Mellon University and Cleveland Clinic Develop AI System to Interpret Cardiac MRI Scans with Enhanced Accuracy21.5.2026 15:05:00 EEST | Press release
A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic’s Cardiovascular Innovation Research Center, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of interpreting some of the most complex heart scans in medicine, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), without the need for manually labeled training data. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260521762286/en/ A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic’s Cardiovascular Innovation Research Center, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of interpreting some of the most complex heart scans in medicine, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), without the need for manually labeled training data. The novel system, called CMR-CLIP, is designed to interpret cardiac MRI scans by connecting moving images of the heart with corresponding clinical radio
The Live Moment Effect: Genius Sports and MediaScience Study Finds Specific Moments in Live Sports Can Double Unaided Brand Recall21.5.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Genius Sports Limited (NYSE: GENI), a global leader in real-time sports data, today released new biometric research conducted with MediaScience showing that ads delivered immediately after emotionally heightened moments in live sports can double unaided brand recall. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260521475265/en/ The Live Moment Effect report from Genius Sports and MediaScience. The study, The Live Moment Effect, finds that advertising effectiveness is significantly influenced by a viewer’s emotional state immediately before an ad is shown. In controlled biometric testing, ads shown after high-intensity sporting moments, such as near-scoring plays or crucial momentum shifts, delivered approximately double the unaided brand recall of baseline conditions. The Moment Before the Ad Matters The research challenges long-held assumptions about media value, showing that not all impressions are equal. Live sports rem
Merck Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase 3 Study for Investigational Antibody-Drug Conjugate in Colorectal Cancer21.5.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced that the first patient has been dosed in the Phase 3 PROCEADE®-CRC-03 trial (NCT07549412). The study is evaluating precemtabart tocentecan (Precem‑TcT), a potential first‑in‑class investigational anti‑CEACAM5 antibody‑drug conjugate (ADC), for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). “Leveraging our novel payload‑linker technology, Precem‑TcT is the first CEACAM5‑targeted ADC in clinical studies with an exatecan payload, rationally designed for stability and enhanced cancer cell killing activity,” said David Weinreich, MD, MBA, Global Head of R&D and Chief Medical Officer for the Healthcare business of Merck. “The Phase 3 study and the enrollment of the first patient with Precem-TcT build on the Company’s more than 20 years of expertise in colorectal cancer, and highlight our commitment to advancing differentiated ADCs for heavily pretreated patients with limited treatment options.” The PROCEADE®-CRC-03 study
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom