A sum of ˆ1.3m has been raised by Bitcoin hardware wallet startup, Ledger. The seed round comprised mainly of French VC fund, XAnge Private and Equity.Other participants in the round included the likes of Hi-Pay, NetAmo CEO Fred Potter, Rentawilibeb Group VP Thibaut Faures Fustel de Coulanges, Alain Tingaud Innovations and Pascal Gauthier, the former COO of Criteo and founder of Challenger Deep.
Challenger Deep is basically a bitcoin startup that is yet to reveal its spectrum of colors.This event was of monumental importance to the French Bitcoin community. Unlike other countries, where assembling funds for Bitcoin projects is not too steep a task, the French entrepreneurs just can’t seem to attract a big enough crowd for Bitcoin promotion.The first product of Ledger was released in the year 2014. It was the Nano wallet, which was basically a Bitcoin hardware wallet that was user friendly, cheap and safe.The main aim of Ledge is to be a leading contributor of Bitcoin and blockchain technology related projects.
They believe that the round of funding will help them achieve that particular goal of theirs. They are also looking to acquire mass adoption through simple, but powerful solutions to secure users’ private keys.The co-founder of Ledger, Eric Larcheveque said: “Hardware wallets, or digital identity security systems, must be eventually perceived as a commodity. Only horizontal integration, as well as extremely low cost per user, is compatible with global mass adoption.”Customer centric applications would be a key area of focus for Ledger. They are also looking to add to the Ledger wallet experience and seal the deal on the Ledger Blue, which would basically function as a security element-based hardware wallet that would make use of a keyboard and a display.
In addition to that, Ledger is also aiming to get its LedgerOS TEE integration plans set in motion. This would work as the first real life application that would operate in a reliable execution environment. External devices will no longer be a prerequisite for private key security and transaction validation.Their long term goal involves conceptualizing, developing and implementing a core secure operating system. Ledger grew out of a partnership between members of La Maison du Bitcoin, the first European bitcoin centre, and startups BTChip and Chronocoin.Thomas France, co-founder of Ledger and La Maison du Bitcoin, believes that this type of partnerships was the raison d’etre of the centre: to “gather great talents, and see what happens”.
Today, Ledger has a team of 15 hard working, dedicated and passionate members. The team is headed by CTO Nicolas Bacca, who has years of expertise in the fields of security, cryptography, secure elements, embedded hardware and UX design in the bank.Ever since Ledger’s maiden product was made available around two months ago, the startup has claimed that it has sold Nano wallets in more than 50 countries in the thousands, which in itself is a stunning feat.The Nano has garnered the attention of the Bitcoin community. Gavin Andresen made the following remarks in an interview with Fortune:“Ledger is an example of an innovation that could make it much easier and safer to use bitcoins.”
