Yesterday Switzerland’s SEBA Bank announced it had closed its Series B funding. The digital asset bank previously partnered with Swiss private bank Julius Baer to enable its clients to access digital assets.
The investment figure of CHF 20 million (according to Coindesk) is significantly less than previous plans to raise up to CHF 100 million. But given the financial pressure on many Swiss cryptocurrency entities, this will be viewed as a success.
SEBA Bank announced in late 2018 that it raised CHF 100 million ($113 million). At the end of 2019, it started talking about raising another CHF 100 million, and yesterday’s announcement is the final result. Swiss banking publication Inside Paradeplatz described the Series A 100 million as “melting like snow in the sun”.
Along with fellow Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum, SEBA was the first to receive a license from regulator FINMA.
“This support will allow us to accelerate the strong growth SEBA Bank is delivering as we also plan to expand into new markets in Middle East and Asia and support US institutional clients,” said Guido Bühler, CEO of SEBA Bank.
In the announcement, SEBA said that investors included existing key shareholders and new investors from Switzerland, Europe and Asia. The firm stated that it plans to tokenize its Series B shares when the Swiss blockchain law comes into force.
Meanwhile, there have been numerous changes in SEBA’s senior team. Key amongst them is the loss of Andreas Amschwand as Chairman, who was the link to Julius Baer where he was a board director. He stepped down from his SEBA role in July. Other departures include COO Thomas Nietlispach, who left around the same time and CTO Per Magnusson, who moved on in September.
In other news, SEBA is also a participant in the Banque de France’s wholesale central bank digital currency trials.
