Blockchain startup 5ire said it had raised $100 million in Series A funding from UK-based conglomerates SRAM and MRAM, making it the 105th unicorn in India and the 20th this year.

The company said that the investment makes it India’sIndia’s fastest-growing blockchain unicorn valued at $1.5 billion.

5ire will use the funds to expand its business and footprint to three continents, Asia, North America and Europe. It plans to make India a business hub and core focus area. 5ire aims to recruit cross-functional industry talents, such as product and engineering.

The company was founded in August 2021 by Gauri and Prateek Dwivedi and web3 financier Vilma Mattila. 5ire earlier raised $21 million in a seed round at a valuation of $110 million, with participation from Alphabit, Marshland Capital, Launchpool Labs and Moonrock Capital.

According to a CB Insights report, VC funding for blockchain startups will exceed $25.2 billion in 2021, an eight-fold increase from the previous year. US-based startups received more than half of global funding ($14.1 billion).

Last October, CoinSwitch Kuber, India’sIndia’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, achieved unicorn status in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures. CoinSwitch Kuber, named after the God of Fortune, has completed a $260 million Series C financing. Existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global also participated. CoinSwitch’s valuation rose to $1.9 billion, surpassing another Indian crypto unicorn, CoinDCX, which announced a $1.1 billion valuation last August.

A blockchain is a decentralised ledger of all transactions in a peer-to-peer network. This technology enables the existence of cryptocurrencies (among other things). Bitcoin is the name of the most famous cryptocurrency that invented blockchain technology.

According to consulting firm PwC, a cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange, such as the dollar. Still, it is digital and uses cryptography to control the creation of monetary units and verify the transfer of funds.