The Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, have been funding their Gemini company out of their pockets for seven years now. But finally, they are accepting outside funding.
Currently, they are finalizing the signing of a $400 million investment that will place their company at a $7.1 billion valuation.
After the signing, the brothers will retain 75% ownership of the company. And their combined net wealth will almost double at $10.5 billion- in April, they were at $6 billion.
The investment is likely to shift the momentum in the competition between the twins and Meta C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg as the twins are now enjoying the backing of Morgan Creek Digital, ParaFi Capital, and others. ParaFi Capital is a decentralized finance venture firm, while Morgan Creek Digital is a capital management giant.
Other ‘Walled Garden’ companies like Meta that profit from user data and a free, open-source future are also likely to feel the heat.
This capital raise will attract the likes of Marcy Venture Partners, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WnderCo, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 10T, Newflow Partners, as well as United Talent Agency, Jane Street, K5 Global, Pantera, VanEck, and BoostVC, among others.
The Industry Game Plan
Dozens of blockchains last month raised more than $4 billion.
Mainly constituted of startups, the companies did this as a ‘counterattack’ against the big tech companies. The goal was to ensure that the billions of people already creating value for their firms’ shareholders continue to do so.
Specifically, the funds will help the companies build a virtual, holographic, augmented reality version of the Internet, called the Metaverse, that anyone can build on (and monetize).
The Gemini Game Plan
While speaking from his home, Cameron Winklevoss said that “There’s these two parallel paths, in terms of technology right now. There’s a centralized path, like Facebook or Fortnite, that is one step away from being a metaverse. And that’s totally fine. But there is another path, which is the decentralized Metaverse and that’s the Metaverse where we believe there’s greater choice, independence and opportunity, and there is technology that protects the rights and dignity of individuals.”
It is through this vision that Gemini is guiding its investors in this round of financing.
“Gemini is the portal into crypto for new and seasoned investors alike,” said Tyler Winklevoss, Co-Founder and C.E.O. of Gemini. “The investors that we have brought on in this round share our ambitious vision for the future.”
And most importantly, the investors are buying into this vision in millions.
Sachin Jaitly, a general partner of Morgan Creek Digital, said,
“We are leading the first outside investment in Gemini because of our shared conviction in crypto and belief in the company that Cameron and Tyler are building. Their vision for the role of crypto in redesigning money, the financial system, art, and the Internet, and their track record of incubating and scaling innovative technologies, gives us confidence in Gemini’s ability to continue to be an industry leader.”
Gemini in 2021
To mention a few of Gemini’s achievements up to now, we have:
- The Launching of Crypto media, a crypto educational resource platform.
- The Launching of Gemini fund solutions to provide support to fund managers.
- Supporting over 60 cryptos for trading.
- Acquiring ShardX- developer of M.P.C. (multi-party computation) technology.
- Acquiring Blockrize to aid in the launch of the Gemini credit card.
Mark Zuckerberg and The Twins
Mark Zuckerberg and the twins aren’t really the best of friends. This follows a long-standing feud brought to light by the film, ‘The Social Network’.
The film by Columbia Pictures tells of how the twins hired a young Mark Zuckerberg to build a social network for university students. And how that idea led to the birth of Facebook, which is apparently under the full control of Mark Zuckerberg.
While Mark maintained that he owed the twins nothing, the twins took him to court over the founding of the Facebook app. And after the protracted legal battle, the brothers walked away with a settlement of $65 million in Facebook stock and cash.
The brothers then went ahead to spend $11 million of the money in 2013 to buy Bitcoins. They purchased what was estimated to be 1% of all bitcoin in existence. And in 2015, Gemini, the crypto empire, was born.
Well, history is about to repeat itself in regards to this feud.
This is because Facebook recently announced the launch of its Metaverse, and now Gemini is raising capital to build its version of the Metaverse.
What could possibly go wrong?