Digital asset bank Avanti Financial Group completed its Series A funding round with $37m, bringing its total raised capital since inception to $44m.
Investors in the Series A funding round included 1843 Capital, AP Capital, Banca del Ceresio, Binance US, Coinbase Ventures, ECMC Group, Equity Management Associates, Greybull Stewardship, Hard Yaka, HashKey, Holon Global Investments, Lemniscap, Madison Paige Ventures and Morgan Creek Digital.
The cryptocurrency services provider aims to use the funds in various projects including regulatory compliance, operational expenses and also engineering services.
Following the latest funding round, Avanti also seeks to become the second crypto company after Kraken Financial to acquire a full banking charter in the US which will enable the firm to offer institutional investors a regulated pathway to venture into the digital assets industry.
Aiming to serve as a compliant bridge to the US dollar payments system, the firm was launched as a custodian of digital assets that can meet the strictest level of institutional custody standards including the Bank Secrecy Act and federal know your customer, anti-money laundering and related laws and regulations.
Ahead of the launch of a cryptocurrency bank, founder and CEO at Avanti Financial Group Caitlin Long said, “We thank our investors for helping Avanti build a new breed of bank that services cryptocurrency Bitcoin and also offers meaningful API capabilities for US dollar transactions to tech-savvy customers. We have received more than 2,500 inbound customer inquiries since announcing receipt of our bank charter in October 2020, and we look forward to being able to service customers later this year. We expect to provide more details about our launch soon.”
Previously, Avanti had secured a $5m funding round in 2020.
The digital asset ecosystem has grown significantly in the last few years. More recently, US-based cryptocurrency custodian Anchorage raised $80m in a Series C funding round led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC.
Given that the bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets continue to mature, there is a tremendous need for more competent operators, the firm said, therefore, making it an ideal time to launch its crypto-based bank.
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