TRM Labs, a blockchain forensic company headquartered in San Francisco, has raised additional funding on top of its previous round, pushing its valuation to $2 billion—double its $1 billion valuation from approximately six months ago, when it completed a $70 million Series C round. The company attributes this growth primarily to rapid expansion in its AI-related business.
Expanding from crypto tracking to AI-powered crime detection
TRM Labs initially provided blockchain forensic services primarily to law enforcement agencies to help track the flow of crypto assets. CEO Esteban Castano told Fortune that TRM no longer defines itself solely as a blockchain intelligence company but aims to address a broader spectrum of cybercrime, particularly scams amplified by AI tools.
According to him, AI is not a shift in business focus, but rather the company’s new growth engine. TRM believes that as tools like deepfakes become more widespread, the barriers to committing fraud, extortion, and online crimes involving minors are lowering, while investigative agencies’ demand for advanced identification tools is rising.
The new platform is scheduled to be announced in November.
TRM Labs is launching a new investigation platform, targeting law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. The platform is primarily designed to identify and block AI-driven financial fraud, while also supporting investigations into cases involving sextortion and child sexual abuse content.
Castano said that AI has lowered both the time and expertise barriers for criminal activities, which is one of the reasons the company decided to expand its product offerings. TRM believes that its existing on-chain data accumulation, partnerships with banks and law enforcement agencies, and external collaboration networks position it well to enter this market.
Core crypto business continues to grow
TRM Labs was founded in 2018. At that time, the blockchain forensics market already included participants such as Chainalysis, Elliptic, and CipherTrace. TRM’s early differentiation was its early coverage of newer crypto networks like Ethereum and Tron, rather than focusing solely on Bitcoin transaction tracking.
The company stated that its core crypto business continues to grow and is expected to reach the $100 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) milestone in the coming weeks. Castano also said the company aims to attract more talent with its latest valuation to support continued expansion in its two business lines: crypto investigations and AI-powered fraud prevention.
- Latest valuation: $2 billion
- Previous Series C funding: $70 million
- Projected ARR: $100 million within the coming weeks
Additional information: As of early September, TRM Labs had approximately 500 employees and offices in London, Singapore, and Washington.