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Symphony<\/a>, a secure messaging app that counts 15 of the world\u2019s biggest banks among its investors and 200,000 paying customers, has raised a new\u00a0tranche of funding to fuel its expansion into new markets. Symphony\u00a0has closed in on $63 million; and according to sources close to the company, the startup\u00a0is\u00a0now valued at over $1 billion \u2014 confirming our reporting from December<\/a>.<\/p>\n This new round adds another strategic investor, the French bank BNP Paribas, which led the round and is taking a seat on Symphony\u2019s board. A majority of Symphony\u2019s existing shareholders also participated in the round, the company said. That group includes<\/a>\u00a0Google,\u00a0Lakestar, Natixis, Societe Generale, UBS and Merus Capital, and a\u00a0consortium of 14 of the world\u2019s largest investment banks and money managers, including Bank of America, BlackRock, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and JP Morgan. The company has now raised $229 million.<\/p>\n While the\u00a0valuation confirms the figure\u00a0we published in December <\/a>last year in an article about the company\u2019s latest fundraising efforts, that story also noted that Symphony had been looking to raise up to $200 million, and that the round was likely to include investors out of Asia, specifically Singapore.<\/p>\n Today, a spokesperson declined to comment on that report. She also declined to say whether this is a new series of funding, or whether Symphony is extending a previous round.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u00a0get a lot of interest and conversations are always ongoing,\u201d she said. \u201cAt this point we feel like we are well-funded.\u201d She described\u00a0BNP Paribas as a \u201cstrategic investor \u2014 one reason why we wanted them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDigital transformation is central to BNP Paribas Global Markets\u2019 strategy, and collaboration with fintech [companies] is a crucial part of that process. Forming agile partnerships with exciting and innovative companies like Symphony helps us deliver an exceptional service to clients, and remain their partner of choice in a changing world,\u201d said Olivier Osty, Executive Head of Global Markets, BNP Paribas, in a statement.<\/p>\n To date, Symphony has built its business primarily targeting the financial services sector with\u00a0a messaging service that not only lets those within a company communicate with each other, but also lets them speak with contacts\u00a0outside their\u00a0organizations using the same secure framework. You can think of Symphony as somewhat like Slack and other messaging services except that, in collaboration with its strategic investors, it has built a platform that meets their particular requirements when it comes to encryption and reporting requirements.<\/p>\n Symphony competes not only against other messaging apps also targeting enterprise users, but also other services that bankers have used to communicate to each other. One of these traditionally has been Bloomberg terminals, which can cost significantly more (estimated at $25,000<\/a> per terminal annually) than the starting rate of $15\/user\/month pricing that Symphony charges<\/a> for its paid tiers. (It\u2019s known by some as the \u201cBloomberg killer.\u201d)<\/p>\n The company doesn\u2019t disclose how many free users it has in its freemium model, noting the figure is just in the \u201cthousands.\u201d<\/p>\n Like other messaging apps, Symphony has supplemented its\u00a0basic messaging functionality with a range of other\u00a0features<\/a>. They include voice and video chat; and a\u00a0marketplace<\/a>\u00a0of other services for sourcing data like Dow Jones and Selerity for surfacing content relevant to discussions, Chart IQ, SP market intelligence, and Fintech Studios.<\/p>\n The formula has worked so far: The company now has 160 financial services companies among its customers, and now it plans to use the funding to pick up more in other verticals. Areas that it has been eyeing are adjacent markets like legal and accounting that also fall under strict reporting and data retention standards \u2014 but also others like the healthcare\u00a0industry whose organizations and companies\u00a0also follow\u00a0strong privacy rules.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are thrilled to have the support of our new and existing investors as we accelerate global platform adoption,\u201d said David Gurl\u00e9, founder and CEO of Symphony, in a statement. \u201cThis financing is a recognition of the value our customers have experienced as the Symphony community has grown. Our customers\u2019 desire to make Symphony their central platform and replace legacy tools is an endorsement of the efficiencies brought by an integrated collaboration platform and streamlined workflow.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Featured Image: olli0815\/iStock\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/twVPWpZ_uZs\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Symphony, a secure messaging app that counts 15 of the world\u2019s biggest banks among its investors and 200,000 paying customers, has raised a new\u00a0tranche of funding to fuel its expansion <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-5431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t