The digital asset industry is growing exponentially and attracting many talented entrepreneurs looking to disrupt the status quo.

Investors will benefit from the deep expertise that both partners have across digital assets, financial services and fintech, as well as the strength of their combined network in both Asia and Europe.

This fund expands the product offering of Sygnum Group’s CMS-licensed Singapore entity, Sygnum Pte. Ltd., providing unique investment exposure to the innovation and growth in digital asset solutions.

Sygnum Pte. Ltd. and SBI Ventures Singapore Pte. Ltd. are partnering to establish an early-stage fund investing in digital asset opportunities across Southeast Asia and Europe. These opportunities will be primarily focused on financial market infrastructure and enterprise solutions being developed for the emerging digital asset economy.

Digital assets and the underlying Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) have immense potential to revolutionise the financial system and democratise asset ownership. While still in the nascent stages of development, the industry has seen exponential growth and increasing levels of interest from institutional investors. As a hotbed of innovation, it is attracting many talented entrepreneurs looking to disrupt the status quo, and DLT-related global private investments have also increased almost seven times over the last five years[1].

Investors in the fund will benefit from the complementary expertise that Sygnum and SBI bring to the table as leading financial institutions and pioneers in the digital assets space, as well as the strength of their combined network in both Asia and Europe. Sygnum is a digital asset specialist with a Swiss banking and securities dealer licence and a capital markets services (CMS) licence for asset management in Singapore. It has also played a key role in successfully launching a number of Swiss digital asset-focused start-ups over the past two years. SBI Group is a founding member of the Japan Security Token Offering (STO) Association, and a seasoned investor in the space, having invested in prominent DLT companies such as Ripple Inc. and R3. With an AUM of over USD 4 billion, it has a proven track record of investing in early-stage companies in the financial services and technology sectors in Asia and helping these businesses to grow successfully.

Both partners expect to play an active role with the fund’s portfolio companies by enhancing corporate governance and providing business development and operational support. The partners also intend to tokenize the fund structure in order to increase accessibility for investors and offer them the potential for greater liquidity post-investment.

“With this fund, Sygnum’s asset management clients will be able to obtain access to a different aspect of the digital asset economy - the innovation and growth of digital asset solutions being brought to the market by some of the most exciting startups in the world,” says Fabian Dori, Sygnum’s Head of Asset Management. “We will also pursue opportunities to distribute this fund offering in Switzerland through Sygnum Bank AG,” he adds.

“DLT has the potential to transform financial infrastructure and spearhead financial inclusion,” says Ryosuke Hayashi, Managing Director and CEO of SBI Ven Capital.

“The SBI Group is committed to being at the forefront of this transformation by actively driving the growth of start-ups within this space through our broad ecosystem of group and investee companies as well as institutional partners.”