ConsenSys, Amplience, Contingent and Playter Secure Funding

Great news for an Ethereum & decentralised protocols software company, a commerce experience platform, a supplier insight platform for procurement and a BNPL invoicing platform.

There’s lots of action in London with ConsenSys, Amplience, Contingent and Playter grabbing tech funding.

All the firms are headquartered in London apart from ConsenSys, which has its base in New York with offices in London.

ConsenSys, an Ethereum and decentralised protocols software company, has closed a $450 million (£344 million) financing round, bringing its valuation to over $7 billion (£5.3 billion).

Commerce experience platform Amplience has raised $100 million (£76 million) in Series D funding.

Contingent, a supplier insight platform for procurement, has completed an $8.2 million (£6.2 million) funding round.

Playter, a buy now pay later (BNPL) invoicing platform, has closed $1.7 million (£1.3 million) in seed funding.

ConsenSys in Recruitment Drive

ConsenSys explains that ParaFi Capital led this raise after participating in its Series C round in November 2021. It was joined by various new investors, including Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, et al.

The tech company is looking for action in the competitive areas of Web3, DAOs, NFTs and DeFi.

The firm offers a self-custodial wallet, called MetaMask, which has more than 30 million monthly active users, growing by 42% in four months.

The proceeds from the round will be converted to ETH to rebalance the ratio of ETH to USD-equivalents in line with ConsenSys’ treasury strategy.

Funding will also be used for MetaMask with a major redesign scheduled for release later in 2022, as well as the rollout of a plug-in extensibility system that will allow integration with a variety of blockchain protocols and account security schemes. This roadmap also builds on ConsenSys’ recent acquisition of MyCrypto.

ConsenSys has nearly 700 full-time employees and plans to have over 1,000 employees by the end of 2022.

Amplience Eyes US Expansion

According to Amplience, there was an equity investment from Farview Equity Partners and growth financing from Sixth Street. Existing investor Octopus Ventures also contributed to the capital raise.

This round, which brings total investments in Amplience to $180 million (£137 million), will be used for expansion in the US and globally, and to support development and rollout of its ‘Dynamic Commerce Experience’. This is on the back of 60%+ year-on-year revenue growth in content management revenues.

The tech firm’s platform is designed for B2B and B2C commerce companies. Amplience is built on a MACH architecture (Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless).

More than 400 brands use Amplience including Crate & Barrel, Traeger Grills, Ulta Beauty, Coach, OTTO Group, GAP, Currys, Argos and Very Group.

It was founded in 2008 and operates in North America, EMEA and APAC. Amplience has 200 employees.

Contingent Contented

Contingent says the round was led by Octopus Ventures with participation from Connect Ventures, Concentric, Seedcamp, Ascension and Working Capital Innovation Fund.

The company provides a real-time insights tool that fits into an organisation’s existing procurement workflow and technology ecosystem.

The funding will be used for building out Contingent’s suite of modular SaaS applications. The company is also “actively looking” to expand into the US and across Europe, and will be hiring into its product, engineering, and commercial teams over the coming months.

Launched in 2020, Contingent was built by a team of risk technology veterans and AI researchers. This latest round takes the company’s total funding to date to $11 million (£8.4 million).

Contingent’s platform is used by procurement and supply chain teams at companies such as Monzo, Seagate, Huel, Barratt Developments and HM Government.

Playtime at Playter 

According to Playter, the round was co-led by Fin Capital and 1818 Ventures, with participation from RLC Ventures and investment network Angels.

Henry Cashin, Head of Europe at Fin Capital, states: “We are excited about the new generation of B2B embedded BNPL fintechs in the wake of the success of Klarna, Affirm, and Block/Afterpay.”

The funding comes as Playter has grown over 1,000% in size and revenue in recent months and is using the injection in capital to “sustain growth in the coming months”.

The platform allows businesses to unlock up to £300,000 with no interest costs or revenue sharing with a subscription fee starting from £550 per month. The firm is targeting SMEs and startups.

Founded in 2021, Playter’s clients include REalyse and Wiserfunding.

Antony Peyton
Antony Peyton
Antony Peyton is the Editor of eWeek UK. He has 18 years' journalism and writing experience. His career has taken him to China, Japan and the UK - covering tech, fintech and business. Follow on Twitter @TonyFintech.
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