How would it be, if you could just throw in some money blindly into a pool and magically get good returns? Well, that’s exactly what’s happening with ICOs (Initial Coin Offering or token sales) and this is evident from two points — the initial sale price and the current sale price. ICO’s are on a rise and they’re steadily moving in the realms of Venture Capital, threatening to take its place. Infact, according to a recent report, in 2017 Blockchain and cryptocurrency startups raised over 3.5x more capital through ICO’s over traditional VCs.
With factors like Press and Public perception, investor relations, equity, liquidity, etc acting on every stage of the fundraising process, we take a look at 5 ICOs that have raised humongous amounts of money without going through the traditional investment process
Telegram Messenger
In February this year, messaging service Telegram launched the presale for its digital currency prior to the ICO, raising $850 million from 81 investors. Later that month the company was planning to launch its second round of sale which aimed at raising double the sum it had raised before. Bloomberg reported that the company did just that and raised over $1.7 billion in March between two sales. In its SEC filing, the company says that it raised an additional amount of $850 million from 84 investors in its second private sale.
Raised Amount: $1.7 billion
Basis
Turns out that investors are interested in central banking alternatives. Basis, also known as Base coin, raised over $133 million in an ICO round that featured all-star investors. It’s investors included names like Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures, Google Ventures and others.
Raised Amount: $133 million
tZero
According to the SEC filings with the SEC, tZero indicated to have raised over $64 million which did not include foreign investors. They further clarified the situation and stated to have raised over $100 million as a part of its presale token. tZero is a subsidiary of publicly traded company Overstock.com.
Raised Amount: Over $100 million
Celsius Network
Celcius is a global P2P fintech platform that connects cryptocurrency holders with borrowers. It further allows holders to gain interest on their assets in form of coins and get a cash loan against their crypto. Just last month they raised over $50 million from their ICO
Raised Amount: $50 million
Mobius Network
A turnkey blockchain data platform, Mobius Network, closed the sale of its MOBI token ICO in just 2 hours. More than 55,000 registered users participated in the round. The sale of token hit $39 million. The MOBI token enables companies and users to exchange data by smart contracts and pug into the blockchain system.
Raised Amount: $39 million
