Vestigo Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on FinTech, has made an undisclosed seed investment in Digital Assets Data.
The recently launched company seeks to bring data, information and transparency to cryptoassets, including currencies, platforms, applications, side chains, security tokens, and initial coin offers (ICOs). It does this through subscription services to hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Digital Assets Data was launched by successful serial entrepreneur Mike Alfred, the co-founder and former chief executive officer of BrightScope, and his brother Eddie Alfred, along with Jason Yates, former chief technology officer of BrightScope. Founded in 2008, BrightScope (recently acquired by Strategic Insight) is a FinTech and data company that delivers enterprise-grade SaaS solutions to many of the world’s largest asset managers and helped pioneer an industry-standard rating for 401k plan quality.
“You don’t have to be in fintech to be aware of the hyper-growth of cryptocurrencies and other cryptoassets. Digital Assets Data is the only company focused on delivering much needed transparency and structure to the nascent and rapidly-changing industry,” said Mark Casady, general partner of Vestigo Ventures, who will serve on Digital Assets Data’s Advisory Board.
“The mission of Vestigo is to back companies developing technology infrastructure for the financial services industry, and equally, investing in people that have both the vision and ability to succeed; the team from Digital Assets Data checks all the boxes. We are confident Mike and his team will be successful in launching a data platform that becomes a standard for the industry and ultimately improves liquidity of cryptoassets.”
With cryptocurrencies growing in momentum, the issues around crypto regulation has also continued to increase. Earlier this year, Bank of England governor Mark Carney reportedly called for Cryptocurrencies to be regulated. Speaking at the inaugural Scottish Economics Conference, Carney said that the currencies themselves could present a future risk to financial stability and called for them to be more rigorously regulated.
The European Union also recently warned that it will regulate cryptocurrencies if an effort is not made to tackle risk. While many investors have capitalised on the global boom in cryptocurrencies to make millions, others have suffered heavy losses and there is increasing concern of the potential for them to be used in crime. Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s financial chief, said that worldwide measures were needed if European regulation was to be avoided.
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