Singapore-based capital market operator iStox has received $50m in a series A round featuring financial exchange operator Singapore Exchange and financial services firm Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, Reuters has reported.
Development Bank of Japan co-led the round with the state-owned Japan Investment Corporation’s venture capital arm.
Founded in 2017, iStox runs an exchange that leverages distributed ledger technology to allow users to trade digitised security offerings easily and efficiently.
The company will channel the funding into extending its product range and expanding across Asia, chief commercial officer Oi Yee Choo told Reuters, adding: “Smaller and younger family offices and external asset managers less covered by private banks are also looking for cheaper and more direct alternative products.”
Investment bank Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group’s capital markets subsidiary, Phatra Capital, provided an undisclosed sum for iStox in September 2019 before Tokai Tokyo’s Tokai Tokyo Global Investments unit added $5m two months later.
Conglomerate Hanwha invested another $5m in the company in January 2020 through its Hanwha Asset Management subsidiary. The company named Singapore Exchange and Heliconia, a subsidiary of Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek, as existing backers at the same time.
