Swiss digital asset custody startup METACO has raised a $17 million Series A. Its corporate backers include existing investors Swisscom and Swiss Post and new investors Giesecke+Devrient (central bank infrastructure) and Standard Chartered.
Other players include U.S. based Anchorage, U.K. startup Trustology and Israel’s GK8. While $17 million is a decent raise, the transatlantic disparity in funding is significant. According to Crunchbase, Anchorage has raised $57 million, Trustology $8 million and GK8 a seed round of $4 million.
METACO announcement
Note: we are experimenting with some articles, publishing the announcement, sometimes prefixed with a brief commentary.
METACO, the leading provider of security-critical digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, today announced a Series A round of $17 million. The round was oversubscribed, with demand over double the initial target, proving continued support from existing investors combined with significant interest from new strategic partners in security technology, central bank infrastructure, Swiss and global banks, and venture firms focused on financial technology.
Giesecke+Devrient, the German based security technology company and one of the main central bank infrastructure partners, led the round. Standard Chartered Bank, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and venture capital firm Investiere joined the round which also saw all existing strategic shareholders, Swisscom, SICPA, Avaloq, and Swiss Post increase their commitments. METACO’s ability to expand its already significant Swiss strategic partnerships to new global partnerships demonstrates the excitement around METACO’s growth internationally, as well as rising institutional interest in the digital asset space.
Launched in 2018, METACO’s institutional operating system for digital assets, SILO, enables large financial institutions to securely integrate cryptocurrencies, tokens, and distributed ledger use cases into their core infrastructure. Its unique framework for digital asset custody, transaction management, trading, and tokenization has made it the leading choice for banks and exchanges. METACO has significant Tier 1 and Tier 2 bank implementations including FINMA, BaFin, Banco de España, ECB, and MAS regulated banks and exchanges.
Commenting on the raise, Adrien Treccani, CEO and Founder of METACO, said, “I am really proud of our team and this funding round will push us to new heights. METACO not only secured an impressive round of funding, but also has a number of significant partnerships and integrations coming down the pipeline. I look forward to working with our new shareholders and encourage companies to get in touch to explore possible synergies.”
The Series A funding will drive the next phase of METACO’s growth in sales, product, and partnerships. More specifically, METACO will be broadening its presence in the US, South East Asia, and Western Europe. Research and development are at the core of METACO’s business strategy, so it will significantly increase investment in R&D to remain as the leader in digital asset infrastructure. METACO will expand its product and addressable market with the launch of its new fully managed, secure, and cloud-based offering, SILO, that will open up the solution to the entire institutional market.
Assaf Shamia, Investment Director at Giesecke+Devrient, added, “The tokenization narrative is gaining momentum among regulators and central banks, encompassing a broad spectrum of promising innovations ranging from digital currencies to national identities. Yet tokenized assets require a trusted, secure and scalable solution to handle the safeguarding of private keys. Following extensive market research, we identified METACO as the dominant player in its field. This large funding round, completed during a period of notable market uncertainty, is a significant milestone for METACO and will allow the company to accelerate its global growth and anchor its position as a category leader in the crypto-custody market.”
Alex Manson, Global Head of SC Ventures, the innovation, fintech investment and venture arm of Standard Chartered, said, “We believe that digital assets are here to stay as an asset class. However, the infrastructure is still very nascent. We are developing a venture to meet the demands of institutional investors for an end-to-end institutional-grade custodian of digital assets, which meets regulatory standards. We are pleased to partner and invest in METACO, as a leading provider of security-critical digital asset infrastructure, which will provide both ease of use and uncompromising security.”
Kalin Nicolov, Head of Digital Currency from SICPA, said, “SICPA was an early investor in METACO and continues to have high confidence in its market leading capabilities. METACO’s custody solutions for Central Bank Digital Currency fit SICPA’s vision for coexistence and complementarity between CBDC and traditional cash payments.”
