Credit Suisse Leads $65M Series B for Crypto Firm Taurus
- Digital asset infrastructure provider for financial institutions in Europe, Taurus, has raised over $65 million in a Series B funding round led by Credit Suisse.
- Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group and Arab Bank Switzerland, as well as stock-listed real-estate group Investis also participated in the Series B.
- Co-founders Lamine Brahimi, Sébastien Dessimoz, Oren-Olivier Puder and Dr. Jean-Philippe Aumasson, continue to remain the biggest shareholders.
- The funding will be used to hire new talent and expand operations with new offices in Europe, UAE, and soon after in the Americas and South-East Asia.
Amid the lack of institutional involvement in the crypto market and an increasingly bearish atmosphere, many crypto firms are struggling to find their way, as regulatory uncertainty has also hindered the development of blockchain technology. Irrespective of worsening market conditions, Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure provider for financial institutions in Europe, has raised over $65 million in a Series B funding round led by Credit Suisse.
According to the announcement, along with Credit Suisse, the Series B round saw participation from three other major financial institutions, Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group, and Arab Bank Switzerland, as well as stock-listed real-estate group Investis. Investors from the Series A round have also provided funding in the Series B. Moreover, the Series B was also approved by the Swiss regulator, FINMA.
“The strategic partnership with Taurus is a cornerstone of the Swiss Bank division’s digital assets strategy with the ambition to become the leading Swiss bank in that space. We continue to embrace new and innovative technologies and expect to soon launch several digital asset services for clients both on the issuing and the investment side,” said André Helfenstein, CEO, Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd.
The announcement confirmed that the co-founders of Taurus, Lamine Brahimi, Sébastien Dessimoz, Oren-Olivier Puder, and Dr. Jean-Philippe Aumasson, continue to remain the shareholders with the largest stake in the company. Brahimi stated that Taurus aims to benefit from the expertise of the high-profile investors “to further develop one of the richest platforms in the industry, covering any type of digital asset, way beyond cryptocurrencies.”
With the investment from Credit Suisse and others, Taurus aims to hire more people to the team to “further develop what is considered the most complete platform in the industry.” The digital assets firm also aims to expand the sales and customer success organization of its infrastructure solutions with new offices in Europe, the UAE, and soon after in the Americas and South-East Asia.
Taurus is also working to “maintain the most stringent security, risk, and compliance requirements across product lines, processes, and organizations,” according to the announcement. Interestingly, the crypto firm already works with 25 financial institutions and corporate clients in eight countries and three continents, ranging from retail and online banks, private banks, and crypto banks. Banks such as Arab Bank Switzerland, CACEIS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Pictet, Swissquote, and Vontobel are some of its most notable clients.
“We will integrate Taurus’ technology in our own IT environment. This will form a key part of our digital asset custody platform and will make it easier for us to develop and roll out our digital asset custody offering. Through this investment, Deutsche Bank is delighted to partner on the development of the market for digital assets,” said Sabih Behzad, Head of Digital Assets and Currencies Transformation, Deutsche Bank.
As reported earlier by BitcoinWisdom, Blockstream also secured over $125 million “in convertible note and secured loan financing to expand its institutional BTC mining colocation services” from Kingsway Capital amid bearish market conditions. Blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs also added $70 million to its Series B funding round, bringing the total raised in Series B to $130 million after it earlier raised $60 million from Tiger Global.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
