UK-based digital assets services provider Luno unveiled a corporate venturing unit on Wednesday to invest in crypto and financial technology, effectively taking over parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG)’s seed-stage investment activity.
Luno Expeditions takes part in seed and pre-seed rounds for financial technology and cryptocurrency technology developers. It has so far operated in stealth, and said it has already made more than 20 investments.
The fund’s portfolio companies include decentralised finance platform developer Block Earner, decentralised credit score service Cred Protocol, digital insurance provider Root and non-fungible token gallery and marketplace Neon.
Luno Expeditions plans to ramp up its activity to eventually make between 200 and 300 investments per year, which would make it one of the more active investors in the space globally.
DCG acquired Luno in a September 2020 deal of undisclosed size that allowed media and e-commerce group Naspers to exit. Luno Expeditions will invest from DCG’s balance sheet, eschewing external backers and giving it access to evergreen capital, while DCG will continue participating at series A stage and later.
Marcus Swanepoel, Luno’s co-founder and chief executive, said in a blog post: “What many people do not realise is that the crypto industry is still incredibly reliant on the more traditional financial services and fintech space – we leverage them for payment rails and processing, compliance and security solutions, fraud detection and much more.
“There are also some fintech companies that are set to usher in the next wave of crypto adoption through transactions: this includes newly founded and nimble remittance and e-commerce companies.
“All this to say that in order for crypto to be successful, many of these other companies will also have to flourish, and so it makes sense for us to support them to help build the wider ecosystem so that everyone can benefit.”
The five-woman Luno Expeditions team is headed by CEO Jocelyn Cheng, formerly managing director of impact investment vehicle Global Innovation Fund. It includes director of investments Mira Christanto and investment analyst Margaux Dutertre.
