Coinbase Joins Google, Salesforce Among Most Active Venture Capital Investors

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc’s COIN venture funding arm Coinbase Ventures was the third-most active corporate venture capital fund in the first half of 2021, according to data compiled by CB Insights, which keeps a track on private investments.

What happened: New to the list, Coinbase Ventures nearly doubled the number of investments it made in the first half this year, compared with the total deals that it made last year. 

With 37 deals, Coinbase Ventures invested in startups such as Vega Protocol, which is building a decentralized network for trading derivatives, Bitcoin BTC/USD self-storage startup Casa, and trading firm Fractal among others. 

See Also: Cathie Wood Buys Another $15.5M In Bitcoin-Play Coinbase, Further Trims Nvidia

Alphabet Inc’s GOOGL GOOGL private investment arm Google Ventures was on the most active fund and made it to the top of the list for the first-half with 64 deal counts.It is on track to exceed its 2020 investment activity of 82 deals.

Salesforce Ventures, the global investment arm of Salesforce.com Inc’s CRM was close second at 59 deals, a roughly 50% increase from the first-half of 2020.

Why It Matters: Global CVC-backed funding reached $79 billion across 2,099 deals in the first half of 2021 — more than the $74 billion invested in all of 2020.

See Also: Elon Musk's Neuralink Raises $205M From Google, Others In Series C Funding

Corporate venture capital is the investment of corporate funds directly in external startup companies and have the potential to sign large cheques, thanks to their well-funded, bigger parents. 

Price Action: Coinbase shares closed 1.08% higher at $258.26 on Friday. 

For news coverage in French, Italian, or Spanish, check out Benzinga France, Benzinga Italia, or Benzinga España.

See also: How to Buy Google Stock