Sygnum raises eight-figure investment from Japan's SBI Group

DIGITAL asset company Sygnum - which has operations in Singapore and Switzerland - has secured an eight-figure US-dollar investment from the digital asset arm of Japan's SBI Group, SBI Digital Asset Holdings.

With the completion of this fundraising round, Sygnum will have raised some US$30 million in the past six months, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Sygnum currently operates as a full-service bank in Switzerland, and as an asset manager in Singapore.

Proceeds from this round will go towards growing Sygnum's assets under administration, which stood at over US$500 million, as at January this year.

This would mean expanding its client base of private qualified and institutional investors, banks and other financial institutions. They will also drive its expansion into new markets in Europe and Asia.

The fresh funds will help to accelerate the launch of new products and services as well. These include the commercialisation of its newly-launched tokenisation platform, its secondary market trading facility, and the expansion of its open banking API infrastructure to banks and other market participants that want to offer their clients digital assets exposure.

In the statement, SBI Digital Asset Holdings' chief executive Fernando Luis Vasquez Cao said: "As a regulated and professional digital asset specialist, Sygnum is the right partner to help us deliver on our vision to make this asset class more trusted."

Sygnum's group chief executive Mathias Imbach said SBI's expertise in fintech and digital assets will empower its clients to diversify into the emerging digital assets economy.

Sygnum and SBI's began partnering in October 2020, when they announced a new venture fund to support early-stage investments in digital asset startups. The fund was said to have a target of between US$50 million and US$75 million.

In December, SBI Digital Asset Holdings and Swiss-based SIX Digital Exchange had also announced plans to set up a digital asset exchange based in Singapore by 2022.