Cryptocurrency Tax Software Startup Libra Raises $7.8 Million

Blockchain startup Libra has raised $7.8 million in a new Series A funding round, the company announced today.

The financial resources came from a group of investors which included an unnamed family office based in Europe. Also contributing to the round, according to Libra, was seed-stage VC firm Liberty City Ventures, cryptocurrency market maker XBTO and Lee Linden, an early-stage investor who previously worked for Facebook.

Of that group, Liberty City is a returning investor after putting in $500,000 in a seed stage round in 2014. Libra develops cryptocurrency and blockchain-oriented accounting and tax software, and the new funds will be put toward the development of its Libra Enterprise Platform, the startup said.

"Libra's vision is to be the premier provider of next-generation accounting, audit, and tax software and data services for the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry," Jake Benson, Libra's CEO, said in a statement.

Founded in 2014, Libra first started with offering its LibraTax accounting software, an early entrant in the market for cryptocurrency-specific tax tools. That was the year the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) notably issued guidance stating that it would treat cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as kinds of taxable property.

More recently, the company has eyed the enterprise-level market, developing tools that are aimed in part at exchanges and other trading-oriented companies. Libra added a former chief risk officer from Siemens to its team in May as part of that enterprise push.