Coinbase (COIN) has acquired Echo, a startup focused on on-chain capital formation, for approximately $375 million.
Founded by a longtime crypto figure known by the pseudonym Cobie, Echo has helped projects raise over $200 million across roughly 300 deals since its launch.
The platform enables startups to raise funds directly from their communities, either privately or through self-hosted public token sales using a product called Sonar.
In a statement announcing the acquisition, Coinbase mentioned that the deal would help it build a “full-stack” solution for crypto fundraising. For startups, this means easier access to capital and tools that align fundraising with their user base. For investors, it opens the door to early-stage opportunities that were often gated behind private networks.
“Echo will remain a standalone platform under its current brand for now, but we will integrate Sonar’s public sale product into Coinbase and likely introduce new ways for founders to access investors, and for investors to access opportunities within Coinbase,” Cobie said.
Coinbase plans to expand Echo’s infrastructure beyond crypto, eventually supporting tokenized securities and real-world assets, the company stated.
The acquisition complements Coinbase’s earlier purchase of token management platform LiquiFi. The exchange’s move also comes after it spent $25 million on reviving Cobie’s UpOnly podcast.
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