Elliptic, the leading provider of crypto-asset risk management solutions for crypto businesses and financial institutions, raised $23 million in a Series B round led by Tokyo-based SBI Group, along with new investment from AlbionVC, and participation from existing investors including SignalFire, Octopus Ventures, and Santander Innoventures. Tomoyuki Nii from SBI Group will be joining the Board of Directors, along with Ed Lascelles of AlbionVC.
The new investment will fuel Elliptic’s continuing expansion into Asia, with new offices opening in Japan and Singapore. Revenue from clients based in Asia has increased 11X over the past two years. The funding will also be used to accelerate product development to support an emerging class of asset-backed crypto-assets such as Facebook’s Libra, Line Corporation’s LINK and central bank digital currencies.
Elliptic’s pioneering suite of solutions is used by over 100 crypto businesses and financial institutions worldwide to manage their financial crime risk when dealing with crypto-assets. These companies rely on Elliptic to screen billions of dollars in transactions every day and to analyze them for links to illicit activity including money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, and other financial crimes.
Founded in 2013, the company was established to support the mainstream adoption of cryptoassets. In 2014, Elliptic launched the world’s first crypto-asset transaction monitoring system, enabling businesses to safely engage with the emerging asset class. More recently, Elliptic’s integrated suite of products and services have been used by a range of financial institutions to manage their crypto-asset risk. The partnership with SBI Group will enable a new wave of established financial institutions to use Elliptic’s proprietary, bank-grade risk data to capitalize on the crypto opportunities ahead of them.
Elliptic’s global expansion coincides with a growing regulatory focus on the crypto industry and its corresponding demand for compliance solutions. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently established a global regulatory framework for crypto-assets, while Facebook’s Libra has seen intense scrutiny from governments worldwide.
Dr. James Smith, Co-founder and CEO of Elliptic, said: “We believe it no longer makes sense to think of a divide between the crypto economy and the wider financial system. Crypto-assets represent new opportunities for financial institutions, and as they move towards addressing these, we are here to support them. “Elliptic’s work to enable trust, transparency, and accountability within the industry has played a critical role in the push beyond cryptocurrency’s experimental phase. This new investment will allow us to double down on our mission to enable the crypto industry to grow and take shape.”
“We are delighted and extremely proud to have the backing of SBI Group, who will play a key role in our expansion to Asia and will support our teams in Singapore and Japan. Their involvement demonstrates not only how far the crypto world has come, but also the critical role Elliptic plays in enabling the banking adoption of crypto-assets.”
Mr. Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Group, said: “We believe that crypto-assets will play an increasingly important role in our everyday lives and are shaping the future of banking.
“Our investment in Elliptic is a further commitment to this belief and to SBI Group’s appetite to help build the digital asset-related ecosystem.
“Elliptic’s pioneering approach is enabling the transparency, integrity, and trust necessary for this vision to become reality. We are seeing a growing demand for their services across our portfolio of crypto-assets related companies and view Elliptic as best-placed to meet this considerable opportunity.”
