ADDX raises US$20m in funding round led by S Korea’s KB Securities
Raphael Lim
PRIVATE market exchange ADDX has raised US$20 million in fresh capital in an investment round led by KB Securities, a subsidiary of South Korean banking group KB Financial Group.
The companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday (Nov 15) that new and existing shareholders took part in the latest investment, which was part of an upsized pre-Series B round. ADDX’s pre-Series B round kicked off in May 2022, when the company announced a US$58 million fundraise involving new shareholders such as Stock Exchange of Thailand, and UOB.
Since its inception in 2017, ADDX has raised a total of US$140 million in funding, including a US$50 million Series A round in January last year.
The company’s total valuation after the latest funding round was not disclosed.
Part of the newly raised capital will go towards growing ADDX Advantage, the company’s wealth management platform launched earlier this year for private banks, brokerages and family offices, ADDX said.
The investment will also be used to fund their global expansion, which includes plans to enter more markets both by working with partners and obtaining new licences. KB Securities and ADDX will explore possible tie-ups to expand private market services in Asia, including potential collaborations in Singapore or South Korea.
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“KB Securities, which belongs to Korea’s biggest banking group, has now backed us – a truly exciting development, filled with potential and opportunity,” said Choo Oi Yee, CEO of ADDX. “We will grow together. We will be a collective force for good in Asia’s capital markets.”
She noted that ADDX’s ability to raise capital during these volatile times demonstrates the momentum behind ADDX and its mission. Existing shareholders of ADDX include Temasek subsidiary Heliconia Capital, Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings and Hanwha Asset Management.
“Shareholders of ADDX are industry insiders with a keen understanding of the transformative, long-term value of this project that transcends near-term cyclical forces,” Choo said.
ADDX was founded to give individual investors greater access to private market deals that have traditionally been open only to institutional investors.
The exchange uses blockchain and smart contract technology to automate manual processes and bring minimum subscription sizes down to S$5,000 from S$1 million, while allowing secondary trading.
“The fundamental design of private markets – how and to whom securities are distributed, and whether secondary trading is facilitated – has transformed more over the past two years than it has over the two decades before that,” Choo said.
“In the long run, smooth and seamless capital markets will provide an uplift to growth in the real economy, with dividends for both workers and investors.”
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