Today Swiss headquartered digital asset bank Sygnum said it raised $58 million in its “Strategic Growth Round”, at a valuation of over $1 billion. Bitcoin venture capital firm Fulgur Ventures was the cornerstone investor, with unnamed new and strategic investors joining the round. It follows a $40 million funding at a $900 million valuation a year ago. Existing backers include Japan’s SBI and Siam Commercial Bank’s SCB 10X. The co-founders, board and team continue to own a combined majority.
Sygnum services 2,000 institutional clients and is a provider of crypto related services to more than 20 banks, including PostFinance, an arm of the Swiss post office. Through these relationships, annual trades increased by more than 1,000% in the past year. However, its total client assets have grown just 25% to $5 billion. That’s despite a 120% increase in the Bitcoin price in that timeframe.
Meanwhile, the proceeds will be used to expand its EU entry and to launch a presence in Hong Kong. The company recently landed a Liechtenstein crypto asset service provider (CASP) license last year and also has a presence in Switzerland, Singapore, UAE and Luxembourg. It also plans to add products that focus on Bitcoin technology.
“Sygnum reaching Unicorn status is a strong validation by the market of our business model, strategy and team,” said Mathias Imbach, Sygnum Co-Founder and Group CEO. “As Switzerland is currently losing ground to other jurisdictions as a preferred digital asset hub, it is also our obligation to highlight the need for Switzerland to not ignore the importance of continuous innovation in the financial sector and to continue to attract talent and capital to remain relevant in the long-term. In that way, Sygnum’s mission is only at the very beginning.”
Sygnum and PostFinance are also taking part in tokenized deposit trials in conjunction with UBS.
