Santander InnoVentures, MUFG, and Nomura Holdings back Securitize in US$14M fundraise
The fundraise reveals growing appetite in Asia for digital securities with KDDI, Mitsui Fudosan, Kenetic Capital and Fenbushi Capital also participating in the round.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Securitize, the trusted global solution for issuing and managing compliant digital securities on the blockchain, has secured a US$14M strategic fundraise with backers that include three of the world's largest banks - Banco Santander through its venture capital arm (Santander InnoVentures), MUFG via its wholly-owned corporate venture capital subsidiary (MUFG Innovation Partners), and Nomura Holdings - to further develop its technology platform to modernize the legacy securities industry.
"Bringing on key strategic investors like Santander InnoVentures, MUFG, and Nomura, as well as leading blockchain investors, validates how transformative digital securities are for traditional financial markets. Their investment in Securitize ensures that we can continue to drive adoption and innovation with our execution and industry-leading technology," said Carlos Domingo, Co-Founder and CEO of Securitize.
This latest fundraise is an extension of Securitize's Series A round and brings its total financing to north of $30M. Existing series A investors, Blockchain Capital, SPiCE VC, and SeedRocket4Founders also participated in this latest round. The backing of these well-established global financial institutions validates the power of Securitize's technology to transform the way securities move and function in capital markets.
Securitize's DS Protocol, which compliantly manages secondary trading and corporate actions for digital securities, currently has the highest adoption rate in the industry with 11 digital securities currently issued, five trading on public marketplaces, and dozens more in the pipeline.
"As we bet on companies that are reengineering core pieces of our industry's infrastructure through blockchain technologies, Securitize is an obvious addition to our portfolio that further enables Santander taking part in the nascent digital securities markets," said Manuel Silva Martínez, Partner and Head of Investments at Santander InnoVentures. "We are excited to work with Carlos and his team to revolutionize the capital markets industry together."
"Digital securities are increasingly becoming a leading use case for distributed ledger technologies within the financial services industry. Securitize has emerged as a leading solutions provider within this rapidly growing space," said Nobutake Suzuki, President & CEO, MUFG Innovation Partners. "Through our investment in Securitize, MUIP is seeking to establish a strategic relationship and promote further collaboration in the future."
The investment round also demonstrates a growing appetite in Asia for digital securities with participants including KDDI Open Innovation fund, the corporate venture arm of KDDI, one of the largest telecom companies in Japan, 31 Ventures, the innovation arm of Mitsui Fudosan, one of the world's largest real estate developers from Japan, leading Hong Kong blockchain VC firm Kenetic Capital and the first China-based venture capital firm solely dedicated to blockchain, Fenbushi Capital.
The Tezos Foundation and Algo VC have also participated in the round to strategically collaborate with Securitize for digitizing securities on the Tezos and Algorand blockchains.
"Securitize is a pioneer in on-chain digital securities and has a strong founders team. The Tezos Foundation's mission is to fund strategically relevant projects and businesses building on Tezos, therefore we see a perfect match," said Hubertus Thonhauser, member of the board of the Tezos Foundation.
In November 2018, Securitize raised US$12.75M in a Series A round from top tier blockchain technology investors including Blockchain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Ripple Ventures, Global Brains and NXTP.
About Securitize: Securitize delivers trusted global solutions for creating and managing compliant digital securities. The Securitize compliance platform and protocol provide a proven, full-stack solution for issuing and managing digital securities (security tokens). Securitize's innovative DS Protocol has the highest adoption rate in the industry and enables seamless, fully compliant trading across multiple markets simultaneously. Multiple Securitize powered digital securities are already trading globally on public marketplaces with many more in the pipeline.
Santander InnoVentures (SIV) is Banco Santander's $200 million corporate venture fund. SIV invests in start-ups in fintech and adjacent areas to accelerate their growth, support great entrepreneurs and teams, and support them with the capital, scale and expertise of the Santander Group. Since launching in 2014, the fund has invested in more than 25 companies, being one of the most active bank-backed fintech corporate venture in the world. Over 70% of the fund's portfolio companies are now in strategic engagements with Santander. More info: http://santanderinnoventures.com
About MUFG & MUFG Innovation Partners: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) is one of the world's leading financial groups. Headquartered in Tokyo and with over 360 years of history, MUFG has a global network with around 3,000 locations in more than 50 countries. The Group has over 180,000 employees and offers services including commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing. The Group aims to "be the world's most trusted financial group" through close collaboration among our operating companies and flexibly respond to all of the financial needs of our customers, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world. MUFG's shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York stock exchanges. For more information, visit https://www.mufg.jp/english.
MUFG Innovation Partners Co., Ltd. (MUIP) is a newly established corporate venture capital of MUFG with a $185 million fund focusing on investing in global Fintech and related startups. For more information, visit: http://www.ip.mufg.jp
About Nomura Group: Nomura is an Asia-headquartered financial services group with an integrated global network spanning over 30 countries. By connecting markets East & West, Nomura services the needs of individuals, institutions, corporates and governments through its four business divisions: Retail, Asset Management, Wholesale (Global Markets and Investment Banking), and Merchant Banking. Founded in 1925, the firm is built on a tradition of disciplined entrepreneurship, serving clients with creative solutions and considered thought leadership. For more information, visit: https://www.nomura.com/
About Tezos
Tezos is a blockchain that evolves by upgrading itself. Stakeholders vote on amendments to the protocol to reach social consensus on proposals, creating a secure and organic upgrading system. The protocol's on chain governance system, Proof-of-Stake (PoS), and ability to facilitate formal verification, make Tezosan ideal long-term solution for digital transactions, including smart contracts and STOs. Tezos is fully decentralized and it is the role of the Tezos Foundation to support the development and long-term success of the protocol and ecosystem. Learn more at: https://tezos.foundation/
CONTACT: Aidan O'Connor, 646-818-9283, aoconnor@prosek.com
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