Blockstack PBC announced that they have raised more than $23 million in the first-ever U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-approved token offering.

Blockstack PBC is decentralized computing network and app ecosystem that protect your digital rights and are powered by Stacks blockchain.

U.S. retail investors were able to invest

Co-founder and CEO of Blockstack PBC Muneeb Ali posted a blog post on Sept. 10 saying Blockstack has raised more than $23 million in token offerings. This includes their SEC-qualified token offering and the offering to Non-US investors (investors outside the US).

There were more than 4,500 individuals and entities who participated in the token offering. U.S. retail investors were also able to participate for the first time in a token offering approved by the SEC.

Investors included Union Square Ventures, Lux Capital, Recruit Holdings, Arrington Capital, Hashkey Group, Fenbushi Capital, Frontier Ventures, and Spartan Group.

In addition to retail investors, attracting strategic investors from Asia was a key goal of the token offerings. Ali also mentioned:

“We are in discussions with international investors for an additional $5M+ which may be distributed in a separate private placement or in a follow-on SEC-qualified offering, as we have previously disclosed in our SEC filings. The goal of this additional distribution is to continue growing our community and network in Asia.”

SEC approval

Blockstack received the go-ahead to raise up to $50m on a public token offering under SEC Regulation A+ offering.

It is sometimes called mini initial public offering (IPO). This is for startups in need of early funding, in which even non-accredited U.S. investors can participate.

Ali, alongside with co-founder Ryan Shea spent 10 months and approximately $2 million to get approval from the SEC for their Reg A+ token offering. According to the report.