Circle received $60 million in financing led by a Chinese consortium and established strategic partnerships with Baidu, CICC and Everbright

Blockchain payment app Circle has raised $60 million in a new round of funding led by Chinese investors, while also launching a dedicated domestic subsidiary, Circle China.

The Series D round was led by Beijing-based investment firm IDG Capital, with participation from Breyer Capital, General Catalyst Partners, SilverLake co-founder Glenn Hutchins and former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano. Circle also entered into new strategic partnerships with Baidu, CICC, China Everbright Investment, Fenbushi Capital and CreditEase.

In an interview, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire and co-founder and chairman Sean Neville noted that the funds raised will be used to fund its global business, and that Circle China had already been capitalized through a separate seed round six months ago.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire

Still, Neville and Allaire emphasized in the announcement that they believe Circle is taking steps to create a truly global payments experience that will soon allow users in the U.S., Europe, and China to easily transfer value with just a text message.

Circle CEO Allaire told CoinDesk:

“We don’t see ourselves as being in the remittance or money transfer business, nor do we think those categories of business will exist in the future. For us, Circle is a global company that invests in the consumer market, and that’s the focus.”

Allaire sought to describe Circle as ‘not just another closed network’ like peer-to-peer payment platforms such as Venmo or TransferWise, with market observers asserting that Circle’s business model is similar to those companies.

Just like that, Neville and Allaire assert that their core advantage is not that Circle is good at providing consumers with a money transfer service, but that an app is more mature and will transcend national boundaries, so users will be more comfortable using it.

About Circle

Circle was co-founded by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville in Boston, USA in 2013. Its first app was launched at the end of 2014 and has now attracted millions of users in 150 countries.

In October 2013, Circle announced a Series A investment of US$9 million from investors including Breyer Capital, Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners.

In March 2014, Circle announced a Series B investment of US$17 million. Investors included Breyer Capital, Accel Partners, General Catalyst Partners and Oak Investment Partners.

In April 2015, Circle announced a Series C investment of US$50 million, mainly from Goldman Sachs and IDG Capital.