Esteban Castano announced that his company TRM Labs has secured an add-on to a September Series C round, pushing the startup's valuation to $2 billion. The fresh capital will fund a new platform that uses artificial intelligence to help investigators track financial fraud, sextortion and child sexual abuse that exploit cryptocurrency.
Why the valuation matters
The jump from a $1 billion to a $2 billion valuation in just six months signals strong investor confidence in the firm's expansion beyond traditional blockchain forensics. By positioning AI as a second growth engine, TRM Labs aims to become a broader crime-mapping service, a move that could reshape how European law-enforcement agencies analyse illicit financial flows.
AI platform and future plans
According to Castano, the upcoming investigations platform will be released publicly in November. It is designed to detect scams that rely on AI tools such as deepfakes, as well as to support police in combating sextortion and child sexual abuse material that increasingly use cryptocurrency for payments.
AI is a second growth engine for our business, not a pivot.
The company expects to reach an annual recurring revenue of $100 million within weeks, a milestone it hopes will attract further talent and reinforce its "do well by doing good" mission.
Background on blockchain forensics
Founded in 2018, TRM Labs entered a market already served by firms like Chainalysis and Elliptic. Its niche has been tracking newer cryptocurrency networks such as Ethereum and Tron, which have become popular among criminal groups for moving funds across borders.
Looking ahead
With roughly 500 staff and offices in London, Singapore and Washington, DC, the firm is well-placed to leverage existing relationships with banks and law-enforcement bodies. The next step will be to demonstrate that its AI tools can match the effectiveness of its crypto-tracing services, a challenge that could set a new standard for cross-border crime fighting in Europe and beyond.