Swiss digital asset tech partner Metaco lands $17m Series A
Metaco, a Swiss technology partner for banks getting into digital assets, has landed $17 million in a Series A funding round.
The round was led by Giesecke+Devrient, a German firm which provides secure payments and is a major central bank infrastructure partner.
Investor Standard Chartered says “digital assets are here to stay”
Standard Chartered Bank, Zürcher Kantonalbank – the fourth largest bank in Switzerland, and venture capital firm Investiere all joined the round.
Existing strategic shareholders Swisscom, SICPA, Avaloq, and Swiss Post also joined. The fintech said the round doubled its initial target.
What is Metaco?
The fintech enables large financial institutions to integrate cryptocurrencies, tokens, and distributed ledger use cases into their core infrastructure.
Customers include FINMA, German regulator BaFin, Banco de España, European Central Bank (ECB), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Global head at Standard Chartered’s fintech arm SC Ventures, Alex Manson, says the bank believes “digital assets are here to stay as an asset class”.
“However, the infrastructure is still very nascent,” he adds. This is why a company like Metaco is gaining traction. It helps banks unfamiliar with the regulatory requirements enter the digital asset ecosystem.
“Metaco not only secured an impressive round of funding, but also has a number of significant partnerships and integrations coming down the pipeline,” says CEO and founder, Adrien Treccani.
New products and expansion
The $17 million funding will go towards growing the fintech’s sales, product, and partnerships. Its most product launch is its fully-managed, cloud-based offering called ‘Silo’.
The start-up also wants to expand to the US, South East Asia, and western Europe.
Metaco says it will pair this geographic expansion with significant investment in research and development (R&D) to improve its digital asset infrastructure.
“The tokenisation narrative is gaining momentum among regulators and central banks,” says investment director at Giesecke+Devrient, Assaf Shamia.
“Yet tokenised assets require a trusted, secure and scalable solution to handle the safeguarding of private keys.”
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