Digital Assets Firms Still Attracting Investors
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: February 15, 2023
In spite of the sector’s troubles last year, fintechs in the crypto and digital assets space continue to attract investment – albeit likely at lower valuations – with the latest being infrastructure provider Taurus.
The firm has raised $65 million in a Series B funding round led by Credit Suisse, with participation from Deutsche Bank and Pictet Group, as well as from the firm’s initial investors. Taurus co-founders, Lamine Brahimi, Sébastien Dessimoz, Oren-Olivier Puder and Dr. Jean-Philippe Aumasson, remain the largest shareholders of the firm and at the helm of the company. The transaction was approved by the Swiss regulator, FINMA.
Taurus says the funds will be used to support its growth strategy across three main priorities: the hiring of top engineering talent; to get closer to clients and expand the sales and customer success organisation of its infrastructure solutions with new offices Europe, UAE and soon after in the Americas and South-East Asial and maintain the most stringent security, risk and compliance requirements across product lines, processes and organisations.
The firm says it already works with more than 25 financial institutions and corporate clients in eight countries and three continents, including systemically important financial institutions, retail and online banks, private banks, crypto-banks, investment banks, and broker-dealers. Amongst its clients are banks such as Arab Bank Switzerland, CACEIS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Pictet, Swissquote, Vontobel.
The challenging environment in the digital assets space is acknowledged by Brahimi, who says, “Raising $65 million in the current market environment tells a lot about the quality of Taurus’ people and products.”
André Helfenstein, CEO of Credit Suisse (Switzerland), adds, “The strategic partnership with Taurus is a cornerstone of the Swiss bank division’s digital assets strategy with the ambition to become the leading Swiss bank in that space. We continue to embrace new and innovative technologies and expect to soon launch several digital asset services for clients both on the issuing and the investment side.”
Meanwhile, Sabih Behzad, head of digital assets and currencies transformation, Deutsche Bank, says, “We will integrate Taurus‘ technology in our own IT environment. This will form a key part of our digital asset custody platform and will make it easier for us to develop and roll out our digital asset custody offering.”