21
21 (formerly 21e6) was a Bitcoin startup founded amidst the November 2013 bubble. In March 2015, they announced having raised $116 million in venture capital.[1]
In October 2017, 21.co announced the change of company name to Earn.com.[2]
History
Early history and secrecy
21 was founded in 2013 as 21e6, with the name being a reference to the controlled supply cap of the bitcoin economy.[1] In November, it was the subject of intense speculation after revealing $5 million in venture capital from a regulatory filing.[1] Co-founder Balaji Srinivasan stated that the startup's secrecy was "solely for pragmatic reasons – we didn’t have anything to say to the world,"[1] and they would not reveal their plans until May 2015.[3]
Venture capital
By March 2015, 21 raised over $100 million in venture capital from numerous investors including Qualcomm Inc.,[1][4][3] RRE Ventures,[1] Yuan Capital,[1] Cisco,[4][3] Andreessen Horowitz,[1] Khosla Ventures,[1] Data Collective,[1] PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel[1] and Max Levchin,[1] eBay Inc. co-founder Jeff Skoll,[1][3] Dropbox Inc. CEO Drew Houston,[1] Expedia Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi,[1][3] Zynga Inc. co-founder Mark Pincus,[1][3] and former ARM Holdings PLC CSO Mark Templeton.[4][3]
Product
Between 2013 and 2018 the company's main focus was on mining operations. In April 2018, co-founder Balaji Srinivasan, who became the CEO of a company in May 2015, announced that the company gradually reduced its mining operations and focused on building a new software to handle micropayments: the paid email and tasks product.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Casey, Michael (10 March 2015). "Secretive Bitcoin Startup 21 Reveals Record Funds, Hints at Mass Consumer Play". Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/10/secretive-bitcoin-startup-21-reveals-record-funds-hints-at-mass-consumer-play/. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
- ↑ news.earn.com (31 October 2017). "21.co is now Earn.com". https://news.earn.com/21-co-is-now-earn-com-3e37e50c444f.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Casey, Michael (18 May 2015). "Bitcoin Startup 21 Unveils Product Plan: Embeddable Chips for Smartphones". Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/05/18/bitcoin-startup-21-unveils-product-plan-embeddable-mining-chips/. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 21.co investors tweet
- ↑ Srinivasan, Balaji (16 April 2018). "The Turnaround". https://medium.com/@balajis/the-turnaround-2d145589d814.
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