The Japanese conglomerate SBI, through its SBI AI & Blockchain fund, has just made a 7-digit investment in the financial securities tokenization specialist Securitize.
Announced yesterday by SBI Group, this is an extension of Securitize's Series A financing tower, bringing the total funds raised by the young venture to more than $30 million. Several investors who have already supported the startup, such as Blockchain Capital, Seedrocket 4Founders Capital or Spice VC, have again released the checkbook.
SBI Investment supports digital securities company Securitize
Although the exact figure has not yet been revealed, Carlos Domingo, founder and CEO of Securitize, was proud to announce that it is indeed a seven-figure sum. A significant part of this capital increase will be used to set up an office, even a modest one, in Japan, most likely by the end of the year, he added.
"We decided to do business in Japan, which forces us to attract customers by locating technology, understanding market needs and language. Only in this way can we secure similar types of integrations in the future," Domingo said.
He further added that the stability of the Japanese economy, favourable market conditions and knowledge of digital assets makes it a very much attractive prospect for tokenization and they are leading the movement as a founding member of the Japan Security Token Offering Association, said Domingo.
In addition to the capital increase of three banks and SBI Investment, Securitize has also secured the support of a digital exchange market Coinbase and Ondulation Xpring, the innovation arm of the payment giant Ripple.
Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO and President of SBI Holdings, a Tokyo-based company, said the company has high hopes for digital values and that Securitize is at the forefront of innovations and developments in the sector.
Securitize believes that it was mature interests in space that did the trick
Nevertheless, Domingo believes that this move is mainly the cause of a more general change in people's interests. According to him, the enthusiasm and curiosity aroused by digital values came mainly from people who believed in the potential of the blockchain and those sold with the idea of the initial supply of parts.
However, in the current climate, there seems to be increased interest in offering security tokens and similar services, and the investment was therefore imminent, says Domingo.
