Blockchain Startup R3 Weighing Options, Including Sale

On October 24, Bloomberg reported that New York-based blockchain startup R3 has held preliminary discussions with representatives of Ava Labs, Solana Foundation and Adhara, according to people familiar with the matter. Those discussions, which have been ongoing for at least six months, have included a variety of options, including a joint venture, a minority stake sale or an outright sale. While its Corda technology is used by a number of real-time platforms, such as the Swiss stock exchange's digital asset trading platform, some projects have not entered the testing phase, people familiar with the matter said. The company laid off about a fifth of its workforce a year ago and now employs between 200 and 250 people.

Founded in 2014, R3 was one of the first and hottest startups focused on developing blockchain-based systems for banks and other financial companies. It initially led a consortium of large banks focused on building blockchain systems that could run some of the most complex processes. Some of the initial members, such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs Group, and Morgan Stanley, withdrew from the consortium starting in 2016 as R3 began to seek outside funding, according to news reports at the time.R3 raised $122 million from more than 40 institutions in a funding round that closed in 2018, with investors that included Barclays, UBS, and Wells Fargo. The company considered going public back in 2018.