The growth capital team at international law firm Osborne Clarke’s Bristol office have maintained their recent flurry of deals by advising on a multimillion pound investment into a company now building the world’s safety standard for cryptocurrency.
The team worked with global venture capital fund Element Ventures in its role as the lead investor in Coincover’s £6.7m Series A funding round. 
Cardiff-based Coincover provides industry-leading protection and insurance-backed guarantees for cryptocurrency investors.
Founded in 2018, it is building the world’s safety standard for cryptocurrency. It will use the funding to drive awareness of its product offering and grow its team so it can support more of the crypto market.
London-based Element Ventures led the round with participation from DRW Venture Capital, CMT Digital, US-based Avon Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, FinTech Collective, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, LLLP, Volt Capital and the founding investors, Insurtech Gateway Fund and The Development Bank of Wales.
Coincover’s services ensure that the 100m-plus cryptocurrency users never lose access to their funds due to user error, business or infrastructure failure.
Cryptocurrency is typically held in digital wallets, protected by private keys, or in offline, cold wallets which could be a paper wallet, USB or hard drive. If a wallet is lost, or an investor forgets their private key, access to the digital coins can be lost forever.
It’s estimated that around 20% of all bitcoin are lost or stranded in wallets that can’t be accessed – currently equivalent to $806bn (£592bn). 
By combining advanced technology and insurance-backed guarantees, Coincover provides disaster recovery and business continuity options for cryptocurrency businesses and enables consumers to enter the market safely.
And just like regular bank accounts, crypto wallets can be hacked. Last year alone, there were 122 hacks on decentralised apps, cryptocurrency exchanges and blockchain wallets, which led to the loss of around $3.78bn.
Coincover was built to protect and prevent these issues, ensuring more people can invest in cryptocurrency with greater security and reassurance that they do not lose their investments if they lose a password or private key.
The Osborne Clarke team included partner Simon Jones, associate Andrew Massey trainee solicitor Liz Foley from the corporate team.
Associate director Ian McKenzie and associate Jennifer Tur from the commercial team, and senior associate Lara Flynn from the employment team also advised on the Coincover deal, which comes hot on the heels of Osborne Clarke’s involvement in the £11m equity round for THIS, a plant-based meat alternative brand, on behalf of funders BGF and CPT Capital, and the £4m growth capital investment from Mobeus for Vet’s Klinic.
Osborne Clarke’s international venture and growth capital practice is widely recognised as a market leader. The growth capital team is ranked tier one by the Legal 500 directory and has experts across London, the Thames Valley and Bristol.
