Tempo Leads $25M Round for Commonware in First Strategic Investment

Crypto infrastructure startup Commonware has raised $25 million in a funding round led by Tempo, the payments-focused blockchain network launched by Stripe and Paradigm in September. The deal marks Tempo’s first venture investment since its public debut.

Commonware develops open-source software that allows companies to build and deploy custom blockchains. The startup, founded in 2024, currently has seven employees and four customers, each generating over $1 million in annual revenue. Despite its small team, Commonware is already profitable.

As part of the investment, Tempo will adopt the Commonware Library and become a core contributor to its ongoing development. Paradigm general partner and CTO Georgios Konstantopoulos said the partnership aims to develop faster methods for processing blockchain payments.

Strategic Distribution Focus

Commonware founder Patrick O’Grady declined to name other participants in the funding round or disclose the company’s new valuation. However, he confirmed the valuation represents a “significant increase” from the startup’s seed round, which Pitchbook reports valued at $63 million.

“Usage and distribution is way more important than money as a startup,” O’Grady told Fortune. “If we can short circuit that process and have a deep relationship, multi-year relationship, with a great team, instead of raising maybe a traditional round from a venture fund, that was the opportunity that Tempo presented.”

By integrating Commonware Library, Tempo believes it can achieve approximately 250 milliseconds finality on a globally distributed permissionless payments system. Konstantopoulos wrote this will come through multiple innovations in consensus, cryptography, and networking.

Commonware previously raised a $9 million seed round co-led by Haun Ventures and Dragonfly Capital. Notable angel investors include Avalanche’s Kevin Sekniqi, Cosmos’ Zaki Manian, and Solana’s Mert Mumtaz.

The investment marks the latest move by Tempo since Stripe and Paradigm officially unveiled the project in September. The payments-focused blockchain has already acquired crypto startup Ithaca and hired Dankrad Feist, a prominent Ethereum researcher who contributed to the development of danksharding.

Tempo has grown from approximately five employees in August to between 40 and 50 currently, according to a person familiar with the company. The blockchain raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation from major Silicon Valley investors including Thrive Capital, Greenoaks, Sequoia, and Ribbit Capital.

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison described Tempo as an “independent company, with Stripe and Paradigm as the first investors” when announcing the project. The blockchain is designed specifically for stablecoin payments and real-world financial applications, competing with other layer-1 networks like Circle’s Arc.

Stablecoin Infrastructure Growth

The Commonware investment comes as the stablecoin payments sector gains momentum. Seven major crypto companies launched the Blockchain Payments Consortium on Friday, aimed at creating common standards for crosschain stablecoin transactions.

“For blockchain payments to reach full potential, we must address the inconsistent and fragmented experiences individuals and institutions face when moving between traditional payments and blockchain,” the consortium said in a statement.

Tempo is already working with major firms including OpenAI, Anthropic, Deutsche Bank, Nubank, Shopify, DoorDash, and Revolut. These companies provided design input during Tempo’s development and are participating in its private testnet phase.

The blockchain is built on Ethereum-compatible infrastructure using Reth, maintaining full EVM compatibility while offering features like opt-in privacy and dedicated payment lanes. The network targets use cases including global payments, payroll, remittances, tokenized deposits for 24/7 settlement, and embedded financial accounts.

Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang leads Tempo while continuing his role as managing partner at Paradigm alongside Alana Palmedo. Huang has served on Stripe’s board since 2021.

Stripe has made several major crypto acquisitions, including the $1.1 billion purchase of stablecoin platform Bridge in October 2024 and the acquisition of crypto wallet provider Privy in June. The company also partnered with Coinbase in June 2024, incorporating Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 network into its crypto payment products.

O’Grady said Commonware has “a bit of a backlog of people that want to work with us” following the Tempo partnership. The company previously built Alto, a minimal blockchain designed to showcase the Commonware Library’s capabilities.