Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum has secured an eight-digit investment from SBI Digital Asset Holdings, the digital asset umbrella company of Japan-based SBI Group, as part of its investment round.
The investment is expected to further strengthen the strategic partnership between Sygnum and SBI that was established in October 2020.
The partnership is based on SBI-Sygnum Digital Asset Opportunity fund, which targets early-stage investments in digital asset start-ups.
With the current funding round, Sygnum received nearly $30m in the past six months.
SBI Holdings CEO and SBI Digital Asset Holdings chairman Yoshitaka Kitao said: “We believe in the potential that digital assets and security tokens bring to investors and financial institutions.
“One of SBI’s growth strategies revolves around building a vibrant global ecosystem for the digital asset economy, and we are pleased to have Sygnum – with its digital product offering and expertise in Europe and Asia – as a strategic partner in this journey.”
Sygnum intends to use the proceeds from the funding round to continue its previous year’s progress in increasing assets under administration, which reached $500m in January 2021.
The company is planning to expand its client base of private qualified and institutional investors, banks and other financial institutions.
Also, Sygnum would expand into new markets in Europe and Asia from its Switzerland and Singapore headquarters, along with advancing the launch of new products and services.
The investment would help the company to commercialise its newly-launched Desygnate tokenisation platform and SygnEx secondary market trading facility.
Furthermore, the new funding would support Sygnum in expanding its open banking API infrastructure, increasing the range of institutional-grade custody features, and developing new asset management products.
Sygnum co-founder and group CEO Mathias Imbach said: “We are very pleased to welcome SBI Group as a trusted Sygnum shareholder and strategic partner. 2020 saw digital assets receive a global surge in interest from institutional investors and financial institutions.
“Together with SBI’s deep and longstanding expertise in fintech and digital assets, we look forward to meeting the rising demand coming from Switzerland, Singapore and globally, and providing our clients with unique investment opportunities, empowering them to diversify into the emerging digital assets economy with complete trust.”
