Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Tuesday, September 24 2019 - 18:00
AsiaNet
Santander InnoVentures, MUFG, and Nomura Holdings back Securitize in US$14M fundraise
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

-- The fundraise reveals growing appetite in Asia for digital securities with 
KDDI, Mitsui Fudosan, Kenetic Capital and Fenbushi Capital also participating 
in the round.

Securitize ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2589837-1&h=1936228967&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.securitize.io%2F&a=Securitize 
), the trusted global solution for issuing and managing compliant digital 
securities on the blockchain, has secured a US$14M strategic fundraise with 
backers that include three of the world's largest banks - Banco Santander 
through its venture capital arm (Santander InnoVentures), MUFG via its 
wholly-owned corporate venture capital subsidiary (MUFG Innovation Partners), 
and Nomura Holdings - to further develop its technology platform to modernize 
the legacy securities industry.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/999992/Securitize_Logo.jpg

"Bringing on key strategic investors like Santander InnoVentures, MUFG, and 
Nomura, as well as leading blockchain investors, validates how transformative 
digital securities are for traditional financial markets. Their investment in 
Securitize ensures that we can continue to drive adoption and innovation with 
our execution and industry-leading technology," said Carlos Domingo, Co-Founder 
and CEO of Securitize.

This latest fundraise is an extension of Securitize's Series A round and brings 
its total financing to north of $30M. Existing series A investors, Blockchain 
Capital, SPiCE VC, and SeedRocket4Founders also participated in this latest 
round. The backing of these well-established global financial institutions 
validates the power of Securitize's technology to transform the way securities 
move and function in capital markets.

Securitize's DS Protocol, which compliantly manages secondary trading and 
corporate actions for digital securities, currently has the highest adoption 
rate in the industry with 11 digital securities currently issued, five trading 
on public marketplaces, and dozens more in the pipeline.

"As we bet on companies that are reengineering core pieces of our industry's 
infrastructure through blockchain technologies, Securitize is an obvious 
addition to our portfolio that further enables Santander taking part in the 
nascent digital securities markets," said Manuel Silva Martínez, Partner and 
Head of Investments at Santander InnoVentures. "We are excited to work with 
Carlos and his team to revolutionize the capital markets industry together."

"Digital securities are increasingly becoming a leading use case for 
distributed ledger technologies within the financial services industry. 
Securitize has emerged as a leading solutions provider within this rapidly 
growing space," said Nobutake Suzuki, President & CEO, MUFG Innovation 
Partners. "Through our investment in Securitize, MUIP is seeking to establish a 
strategic relationship and promote further collaboration in the future."

The investment round also demonstrates a growing appetite in Asia for digital 
securities with participants including KDDI Open Innovation fund, the corporate 
venture arm of KDDI, one of the largest telecom companies in Japan, 31 
Ventures, the innovation arm of Mitsui Fudosan, one of the world's largest real 
estate developers from Japan, leading Hong Kong blockchain VC firm Kenetic 
Capital and the first China-based venture capital firm solely dedicated to 
blockchain, Fenbushi Capital.

The Tezos Foundation and Algo VC have also participated in the round to 
strategically collaborate with Securitize for digitizing securities on the 
Tezos and Algorand blockchains.

"Securitize is a pioneer in on-chain digital securities and has a strong 
founders team. The Tezos Foundation's mission is to fund strategically relevant 
projects and businesses building on Tezos, therefore we see a perfect match," 
said Hubertus Thonhauser, member of the board of the Tezos Foundation.

In November 2018, Securitize raised US$12.75M in a Series A round from top tier 
blockchain technology investors including Blockchain Capital ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2589837-1&h=3053289579&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblockchain.capital%2F&a=Blockchain+Capital%2C 
), Coinbase Ventures ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2589837-1&h=1713024541&u=http%3A%2F%2Fventures.coinbase.com%2F&a=Coinbase+Ventures 
), Ripple Ventures ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2589837-1&h=942827369&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rippleventures.ca%2F&a=Ripple+Ventures 
), Global Brains and NXTP.

About Securitize: Securitize delivers trusted global solutions for creating and 
managing compliant digital securities. The Securitize compliance platform and 
protocol provide a proven, full-stack solution for issuing and managing digital 
securities (security tokens). Securitize's innovative DS Protocol has the 
highest adoption rate in the industry and enables seamless, fully compliant 
trading across multiple markets simultaneously. Multiple Securitize powered 
digital securities are already trading globally on public marketplaces with 
many more in the pipeline.

Santander InnoVentures (SIV) is Banco Santander's $200 million corporate 
venture fund. SIV invests in start-ups in fintech and adjacent areas to 
accelerate their growth, support great entrepreneurs and teams, and support 
them with the capital, scale and expertise of the Santander Group. Since 
launching in 2014, the fund has invested in more than 25 companies, being one 
of the most active bank-backed fintech corporate venture in the world. Over 70% 
of the fund's portfolio companies are now in strategic engagements with 
Santander. More info: http://santanderinnoventures.com

About MUFG & MUFG Innovation Partners: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 
(MUFG) is one of the world's leading financial groups. Headquartered in Tokyo 
and with over 360 years of history, MUFG has a global network with around 3,000 
locations in more than 50 countries. The Group has over 180,000 employees and 
offers services including commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit 
cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing. The Group aims to "be 
the world's most trusted financial group" through close collaboration among our 
operating companies and flexibly respond to all of the financial needs of our 
customers, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a 
better world. MUFG's shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York stock 
exchanges. For more information, visit https://www.mufg.jp/english.

MUFG Innovation Partners Co., Ltd. (MUIP) is a newly established corporate 
venture capital of MUFG with a $185 million fund focusing on investing in 
global Fintech and related startups. For more information, visit: 
http://www.ip.mufg.jp 

About Nomura Group: Nomura is an Asia-headquartered financial services group 
with an integrated global network spanning over 30 countries. By connecting 
markets East & West, Nomura services the needs of individuals, institutions, 
corporates and governments through its four business divisions: Retail, Asset 
Management, Wholesale (Global Markets and Investment Banking), and Merchant 
Banking. Founded in 1925, the firm is built on a tradition of disciplined 
entrepreneurship, serving clients with creative solutions and considered 
thought leadership. For more information, visit: https://www.nomura.com/ 

About Tezos

Tezos is a blockchain that evolves by upgrading itself. Stakeholders vote on 
amendments to the protocol to reach social consensus on proposals, creating a 
secure and organic upgrading system. The protocol's on chain governance system, 
Proof-of-Stake (PoS), and ability to facilitate formal verification, make 
Tezosan ideal long-term solution for digital transactions, including smart 
contracts and STOs. Tezos is fully decentralized and it is the role of the 
Tezos Foundation to support the development and long-term success of the 
protocol and ecosystem. Learn more at: https://tezos.foundation/ 

CONTACT: Aidan O'Connor, +1-646-818-9283, aoconnor@prosek.com

SOURCE  Securitize
Translations

Japanese