5ire, a fifth generation blockchain network, has raised $100 million in Series A funding round from UK-based conglomerate SRAM & MRAM. With a valuation of $1.5 billion, the start-up has become India’s 105th unicorn.

The Web 3 start-up had earlier raised a funding of $21 million in its seed round at a valuation of $110 million with participation from both private and institutional investors like Alphabit and Marshland Capital, among others.

Expanding footprint

“The funding will be deployed towards sales and marketing in order to increase adoption and to hire senior executives to the firm. We also focus on acquiring companies that align with the fifth industrial revolution mission,” Pratik Gauri, CEO and Founder, 5ire, told BusinessLine. Funds will also be used for business expansion and extending 5ire’s footprint across three continents, including Asia, North America and Europe, with India as the hub of operations and core area of focus. It also aims to hire talent across functions like product, engineering, and marketing.

5ire will continue to invest in strengthening its blockchain further and work towards ensuring this decentralised technology benefits a larger base globally, said the company. The firm is currently in a pre-revenue stage and aims to generate revenue by November, at the time of the launch of their main net.

‘For-benefit’ paradigm

“We are on a mission to embed sustainability into blockchain and shift the current paradigm from ‘for-profit’ to ‘for-benefit’. Becoming the world’s first and only sustainable unicorn born out of India, in just 11 months, is testimony that we are on the right path,” Gauri said.

5ire is a blockchain ecosystem that brings forth sustainability, technology and innovation to build the fifth industrial revolution (5IR). It aims to embed the for-benefit paradigm at the heart of blockchain, by highly incentivising practices that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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