Privacy Crypto Beam Gets Funding from ‘Japanese LinkedIn’ Recruit

Privacy-oriented cryptocurrency startup Beam has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from “Japan’s equivalent to LinkedIn” Recruit Co., Ltd.

Recruit announced the news Monday, stating that the investment is through its $25 million-sized RSP Blockchain Tech Fund, which was set up last November. Beam also confirmed the investment in a Tweet Monday, stating that Recruit invested prior to its Mainnet launch last month, adding:

“This investment helps Beam fulfill its mission in Japan too when it comes to deploying a compliant, scalable, and confidential cryptocurrency.”

Giving the reason why it invested in Beam, Recruit said: “Beam token provides a blockchain with a function that prevents the divulgation of transaction data to third parties and protects the user’s transaction information.”

Beam went live back in January and became one of the first cryptocurrencies based on Mimblewimble, a protocol that makes transactions confidential and reduces the size of the overall blockchain. Since launch though, the project has faced some technical difficulties. Most recently, its network “stopped at block 25709” for a brief period before operations were restored.

Recruit, in its Monday’s statement, further said that through its RSP Blockchain Tech Fund, which is a venture between Recruit and its subsidiary Recruit Strategic Partners, Inc. (RSP), it aims to invest in “promising” blockchain startups.

Besides Beam, Recruit has also invested in four other startups in the blockchain space, according to its website. These include crypto debit cards provider Shift Payments, blockchain identity startup ShoCard, blockchain payments provider Veem and Japanese bitcoin exchange BitFlyer.

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