Rainbow Ethereum Wallet Raises $18M, Led by Reddit Co-Founder Ohanian

Ethereum mobile wallet startup Rainbow announced today that it’s raised an $18 million Series A funding round led by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm established by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

The startup closed the round in October 2021 and has since hired more than 20 employees as it looks to scale its business to reach more users, according to a company statement. Rainbow did not disclose additional investors in the round, which followed a $1.5 million seed round.

Rainbow is designed as a streamlined and accessible mobile alternative to MetaMask, arguably the best-known Ethereum wallet, letting users trade crypto tokens, interact with decentralized apps (dapps), buy and view NFT collectibles, and access layer-2 and sidechain scaling solutions like Polygon, Optimism, and Arbitrum.

The firm’s wallet app is currently available for iOS devices, and Rainbow also recently launched a public beta version of its Android app.

“Many crypto users, myself included, regard Rainbow as the best designed wallet,” Ohanian said in a statement. “User experience matters so much—[Rainbow’s] design choices are the reason they’ve already built a cult following and continue to educate and onboard scores of new users to Web3.”

Ohanian is an outspoken advocate of NFT collectibles—he owns valuable Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks avatars—and the potential for play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity to revolutionize the future of work. He’s an investor in Axie developer Sky Mavis, as well as Horizon Blockchain Games, maker of NFT-driven collectible card game Skyweaver.

Seven Seven Six recently announced a $200 million investment initiative alongside Polygon, the Ethereum sidechain scaling solution. The companies will co-invest funds into gaming and social media projects building on Polygon.

Ohanian’s VC firm announced a similar, Solana-focused $100 million investment initiative with Solana Ventures last November.