Paradigm Backs Agora’s $50M Raise to Launch Stablecoins

- Agora launches turnkey solution for branded stablecoins. - Paradigm’s $50 million investment signals growing institutional interest. On July 10, 2025, U.S.-based stablecoin startup Agora announced it raised $50 million in a Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Paradigm. This round brings Agora’s total capital to $62 million, following a $12 million seed round in 2024. With this fresh capital, Agora officially launched its white-labeled stablecoin product, a solution that allows businesses to quickly issue their own branded stablecoins backed by AUSD, the company’s U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin. According to The Block on July 10, Agora’s white-labeled solution is a “turnkey” offering that reduces the launch time for stablecoins from months to just days. AUSD serves as the core for these branded stablecoins and is backed 1-for-1 by cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries. In addition, State Street and VanEck manage the AUSD reserves, which adds transparency and reliability to the product. Unlike competitors like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), Agora enables its partners to share in the yield from AUSD’s underlying reserves, a feature that offers a unique value proposition in the stablecoin market. Paradigm’s significant investment highlights the rising demand from fintech companies and corporations, as these groups want to issue digital dollars without building infrastructure from scratch. Agora’s founding team includes Nick van Eck, son of VanEck CEO Jan van Eck, alongside former Coinbase engineers Drake Evans and Joe McGrady. The team’s extensive experience positions Agora as a standout player in addressing growing institutional interest in stablecoins, especially as the market anticipates major growth and regulatory clarity. The U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin market has a collective market capitalization of approximately $250 billion. By early July 2025, this figure grew to $255 billion, with AUSD contributing about $128.9 million. Moreover, market analysts predict long-term growth into the trillions if clear U.S. regulatory policies materialize. Meanwhile, as of 17:14 UTC on July 10, Tether USDt (USDT) remained priced at $1, with a 0.018% change in its 24-hour trading volume, while USD Coin (USDC) mirrored this valuation, showing a 0.017% decrease in its trading volume over the same period.