Recently-launched bitcoin services company Gem hasn’t been around terribly long, and they are already doing some pretty impressive things.
The Venice, California-based company announced on Wednesday that they have closed a $2 million seed round of funding. That money, the company says, will help faster grow Gem’s recently-launched full-stack API.
That API essentially provides developers with a full solution when it comes to building their applications, allowing them to not have to worry about building in security infrastructure into their applications.
The round of funding was led by both First Round Capital and Tekton Ventures. Other investors that participated in the round include: Amplify.LA, RRE Ventures, MESA+, Amplify.LA, Birchmere Labs, Idealab, ECEG, Partners, Baroda Ventures, Wavemaker Labs, Bitcoin Shop, Crypto Currency Partners, QED Associates, and James Joaquin.
“We’re excited to get significant early-stage funding to expand and become the all-in-one platform to develop Bitcoin apps, as we’ve received tremendous feedback from Bitcoin developers since our launch, from fledgling companies building on their ideas to the industry’s more successful services,” said Micah Winkelspecht, Gem’s CEO and founder. “There are currently 16,500 Bitcoin apps in development on GitHub. Our goal is to help every developer focus on their overall product vision, without the need for expertise in cryptography, security and the underlying Bitcoin protocol.”
Winkelspecht adds, “Each investor has contributed not just their capital and strategic advice, but also their vast industry network. With this funding, our team is well-positioned to continue building the world’s most highly scalable and security-focused API. Immediately after we unveiled our API to the public, we began to see the realization of our mission to empower individuals to take control of their own assets through Gem’s crucial security infrastructure.”
“The potential for an all-in-one Bitcoin development platform and the rise of new and exciting Bitcoin apps will open the door to new, innovative ways of managing digital assets securely, without sacrificing convenience,” said Kevin Miller, Gem COO. “Gem’s platform will allow them to drive mainstream user adoption of Bitcoin with the next generation of great apps, using less than ten lines of code in minutes. We’re also very excited for third-party developers to have access soon.”