5ire Raises $100 Million To Become India's 105th Unicorn

Blockchain start-up, 5ire has raised $100 million in a Series A round from UK-based conglomerate Sram & Mram Group. With a valuation of $1.5 billion, it makes the start-up India's 105th unicorn. 

The company had earlier raised $21 million in its seed round at a valuation of $110 million with participation from private and institutional investors like Alphabit, Marshland Capital, Launchpool Labs, Moonrock Capital, and others. 

5ire’s primary goal is to create 5ireChain, a user-centric sustainability-driven blockchain. It aims to achieve this by embedding sustainability both in 5irechain’s base layers and in the upper decision-making that democratically commands the network. “It strikes a perfect balance in solving the blockchain trilemma between security, scalability, and decentralisation,” the company said. 

Leapfrogging Into The Unicorn Club

Incorporated in Dubai, the start-up plans to use the funds to expand into Asia, North America and Europe while keeping India as the hub of operations and core area of focus. The company currently has a workforce of 100 employee, which is likely to grow up to 150 in the coming months. 

Indian-origin entrepreneurs Pratik Gauri and Prateek Dwivedi founded the start-up along with web3 financier Vilma Mattila in August 2021. CEO and Co-founder Pratik said that the company's business model embeds the for-benefit paradigm by highly incentivizing practices that align with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which it calls the Proof-of-Benefit implementation. "5ire will empower decentralized autonomous organisations (DAO) and working groups to help accelerate the implementation of the UN's 17 SDG goals," he added. 

Sailesh Lachu Hiranandani, Founder, and Chairman of Sram & Mram, believed that 5ire's blockchain is one that governments and large corporations will use soon. He said, "We have great confidence in moving forward with investments in sustainable technologies. As a scientist, I have always believed in finding better ways to do things, and 5ire is committed to finding solutions for the 17 UN Sustainability Development Goals. We are assured in the leadership team's abilities at 5ire and wish them all the very best."

Building the Blockchain Blocks 

According to Report Ocean, the global blockchain technology market was valued at approximately $2.91 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 68.4 % over the forecast period 2022-2028. Some prominent blockchain startups in India include Signzy, WazirX, CoinDCX, MindDeft, InstaDapp, KoineArth, Matic Network, Somish and Primechain. 

In May 2022, crypto exchange startup CoinDCX’s investment arm, CoinDCX Ventures, announced an $12.85 Mn fund to invest in early-stage blockchain and crypto startups in India. This fund aims to accelerate the web3 ecosystem in the country, which has been garnering lots of attention.