Peter Thiel Endorses Bitcoin Startup River in $35M Funding Round

The Bitcoin technology company River, which also provides financial services and offers bitcoins, has raised 35 million dollars in a Series-B round led by investment firm Kingsway Capital with billionaire investor Peter Thiel.

River provides a range of bitcoin services to individuals and businesses. These include a brokerage with zero-fee dollar cost averaging, mining and full-reserve custodial, as well as a wallet which supports on-chain and Lightning Network transactions. Lightning Network is a bitcoin scaling system that settles transactions in a way that allows for faster speeds and cheaper fees. The company released River Lightning last October, an API that allows companies to easily connect their Lightning Network applications.

In a press statement, River CEO Alex Leishman said that the bank failures and bailouts had reminded him of Bitcoin’s importance. He added that it was a safe path to a more transparent, equal and fair global economy. He continued: “River’s goal is to offer the easiest on-ramp for people to invest in Bitcoin as an alternative to the existing system.” This funding round shows our commitment to championing a robust and honest financial environment by using bitcoin, the world’s only uncorruptible digital money.

Cygni Goldcrest and Valor Equity Partners were also investors. River raised its last $12 million Series A round of funding in 2021.