What Companies Does Coinbase Own?

By Matt Hallowes

Last updated: Feb 15, 2023

Table of contents

Find out more about which companies Conbase owns or has shares in.

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What Companies does Coinbase own?

Founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, Coinbase is one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, trading in over nine thousand assets.

Coinbase has experienced tremendous growth over the last decade and, in 2021, went public under the ticker COIN. Coinbase generated over $7.4 billion during the same year, a 545% year-over-year increase—likely fueled by global economic uncertainty and the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is Coinbase?

Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange used by novice and expert investors to buy, sell, and manage their crypto portfolios. The company has raised over $847 million in funding over 14 rounds and is valued at over $30 billion.

The company's offerings include products for individuals, businesses, and developers. The Coinbase Wallet is one of Coinbase's most popular products, available in more than 190 countries with over 56 million users worldwide.

Some of Coinbase's other retail products include:

Coinbase Earn: Allows customers to earn crypto by taking courses on Blockchain topics.
Coinbase Card: A Visa debit card linked to your Coinbase account.
Coinbase Borrow: A lending service where customers can use Bitcoin as collateral for loans.
Coinbase Pro: An advanced trading platform for retail investors.
Coinbase Payroll: Allows customers to get their paycheck deposited into their Coinbase account.

Coinbase has invested and partnered with many companies in the crypto and blockchain space to develop its product offering. They have invested in 12 startups over the years and, until January 2022, had acquired 18 companies.

Learn more: Meet the Team Behind Coinbase.

What companies have Coinbase invested in?

These are the 12 startups Coinbase has invested in:

Balt Financial Holdings: A platform providing retail investors with a broad range of financial services. Coinbase invested $500 million in Balt's Seed Round in September 2021.
Cortex: A decentralized blockchain-based AI autonomous system. Coinbase invested $2.5 million in Cortex's Seed Round in May 2021.
Alchemy: Provides development tools and resources for blockchain-based projects. Coinbase invested $15 million in Alchemy's Series A round in December 2019 and $80 million in Alchemy's Series B in April 2021.
Risk Harbor: A risk management marketplace for decentralized finance (DeFi), eliminating the need for trusted intermediaries. Coinbase invested $3.5 million in Risk Harbor's Seed Round in April 2021.
Tribe Accelerator: Blockchain accelerator for growth-stage startups utilizing blockchain technology. Coinbase invested $70 million in Tribe Accelerator's Venture Round in April 2021.
Rain: Bahrain-based cryptocurrency exchange for Middle East customers. Coinbase invested $9.4 million in Rain's Series A round in December 2020.
Securitize: An alternative investments platform for businesses and individuals. Coinbase invested $12.8 million in Securitize's Series A round in July 2020.
Bison Trails: A blockchain infrastructure platform providing transparent and decentralized blockchain services. Coinbase invested $25.5 million in Bison Trails' Series A round in November 2019.
BladeGame: A blockchain-based crypto game where players can earn NFTs. Coinbase invested $4.3 million in Blade's Seed Round in August 2019.
Horizon Blockchain: A blockchain game platform with products for users and developers. Coinbase invested 3.8 million in Horizon Blockchain's Seed Round in July 2019.
ZestMoney: Indian-based consumer lending FinTech company. Coinbase invested $20 million in ZestMoney's Series B round in April 2019.
Abacus (now Nova): A platform for legal and compliance workflows. Coinbase invested $2 million in Abacus' Seed Round in December 2018.

What Companies Does Coinbase own?

Since 2018, Coinbase has acquired 18 companies across various financial, crypto, and NFT industries. In November 2022, Coinbase made its first acquisition in India by purchasing the AI-powered support platform Agara for over $40 million.

Here are Coinbase's 18 acquisitions in chronological order (correct as of March 2022):

Earn.com: A crypto C2C platform similar to Upwork Coinbase acquired in April 2018.
Cipher Browser: A blockchain-based web browser Coinbase acquired in April 2018.
Paradex: A peer-to-peer trading platform Coinbase acquired Paradex in May 2018.
Digital Wealth: A financial planning and investment management firm Coinbase acquired Digital Wealth in June 2018.
Venovate: A marketplace platform for alternative investing Coinbase acquired Venovate in June 2018.
Keystone Capital Corp.: A financial services platform Coinbase acquired in June 2018.
Distributed Systems: A Smart ID platform Coinbase acquired in August 2018.
Blockspring: A marketing automation platform Coinbase acquired in January 2019.
Neutrino: A research and analysis tool for blockchain and virtual currencies Coinbase acquired in February 2019.
Routefire: A digital asset trade execution technology Coinbase acquired in January 2020.
Tagomi: A digital asset brokerage Coinbase acquired in May 2020.
Bison Trails: After investing in Bison Trails' Series A in 2019, Coinbase acquired the company in January 2021.
Skew: A cryptocurrency analytics tool Coinbase acquired in April 2021.
Zabo: A platform offering multiple crypto analysis and trading tools Coinbase acquired in August 2021.
Agara: An AI-powered customer support automation service Coinbase acquired in November 2021.
BRD: A crypto wallet Coinbase acquired in November 2021.
Unbound Security: A cryptographic security company Coinbase acquired in November 2021.
FairX: A CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange Coinbase acquired in January 2022.

Who is the Biggest Investor in Coinbase?

It's difficult to get an accurate picture of Coinbase's ownership. Multiple credible sources, including Yahoo! Finance, Wall Street Zen, CNN Money, and MarketBeat, seem to have conflicting information.

These sources suggest that Coinbase is between 25-50% owned by institutional investors like AH Equity Partners, Vanguard Group, ARK Investment Management, and Morgan Stanley, to name a few.

What stake these institutional investors own varies depending on the sources mentioned above.

According to Forbes, founder Brain Armstrong owns about 19% of Coinbase while co-founder and director Fred Ehrsam owns less than 6%. Fred was one of the biggest insider sellers during 2021.

According to Wall Street Zen, venture capitalist, and Coinbase Director Marc Andreessen was one of the biggest individual shareholders in Coinbase but sold off a lot of his stake during 2021.