Stock exchange operator and financial technology provider Nasdaq has led a $20m series B round for Symbiont, the US-based developer of a smart contracts platform for distributed ledger applications.
Nasdaq participated through corporate venturing subsidiary Nasdaq Ventures, investing alongside financial services firms Raptor Group and Citi, as well as blockchain-focused venture capital firm Galaxy Digital Ventures.
Founded in 2013, Symbiont has created a blockchain and smart contract platform called Assembly which can be used to privately share and store data. It also enables users to create digital financial instruments such as loans or securities.
Symbiont will use the funding to accelerate commercialisation of the software for use in financial services functions such as data management, mortgages, private equity and syndicated loans. Nasdaq and Citi intend to explore the technology’s applications for their clients.
The company received an investment of undisclosed size from Medici Ventures, the VC arm of e-commerce platform Overstock, in July 2017 as part of a strategic partnership agreement.
Financial software provider Hundsun Technologies had invested an undisclosed sum two months earlier through a similar agreement, and Symbiont had previously raised $7m from undisclosed investors the year before according to Bitcoin Magazine.
Gary Offner, head of Nasdaq Ventures, said: “We are committed to discovering and investing in innovative technologies to help build our future market infrastructure used by more than 100 marketplaces around the world.
“Our investment will also include the integration of Symbiont’s enterprise blockchain and smart contract platform into the Nasdaq Financial Framework. We are pleased to support this important, growing area for creating unique institutional applications of blockchain technology.”