Avanti Financial Group has closed its Series A financing round, which raised $37 million for the start-up digital asset bank. Use of proceeds is to fund Avanti’s required regulatory capital needed for launch, as well as to fund engineering build and other operating expenses. The offering was upsized twice due to market demand. Avanti has raised a total of $44 million since its inception.
Series A shareholders include a global mix of institutional investors, cryptocurrency companies and family offices, as well as multiple Avanti executives and directors. Individual investors prominent in the cryptocurrency, tech and traditional asset management industries include Trace Mayer, Marcel Kasumovich, Rob Kauffman (Aldel Capital), Tim Keefe, Lawrence Lepard, Eric Ly and others. Institutional investors include 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, Morgan Creek Digital, PJT Partners, Slow Ventures, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments and The University of Wyoming Foundation, among others. PJT Partners acted as sole placement agent for Avanti.
“As Bitcoin and digital asset markets mature and financialization network effects take root, there is a tremendous need for both well crafted laws and experienced, competent operators. When surveying the globe, in my opinion Wyoming best meets these needs generally, and the Avanti team specifically is among the most potent institutional-quality human capital,” said Trace Mayer, who formed the consortium that led Avanti’s Series A and is an early Bitcoin adopter and investor in Bitcoin industry infrastructure. “Avanti is extremely well positioned to competently answer questions that most in the industry have not even thought about yet.”
“We thank our investors for helping Avanti build a new breed of bank that services Bitcoin and also offers meaningful API capabilities for U.S. dollar transactions to tech-savvy customers,” said Caitlin Long, Avanti’s founder and chief executive officer. “Our roadmap includes offering API-based U.S. dollar payment services for wires, ACH and SWIFT; issuance of our tokenized, programmable U.S. dollar called Avit™*; and custody and on-/off-ramp services for bitcoin and other digital assets. 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.”
