Digital Asset Platform SEBA Bank Raises $119M for Global Expansion

Digital asset banking platform SEBA Bank has raised 110 million Swiss francs ($118.6 million) in a Series C funding round co-led by crypto-focused firm DeFi Technologies, alternative investment platform Altive, and investment firms Ordway Selections and Summer Capital. Alameda Research was also a participant. SEBA previously raised a total of $126.5 million, according to Crunchbase data.

Launched in 2018, SEBA started as a crypto banking service and expanded into offering crypto trading and custody for institutional investors.

The company received a license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in 2019, the first time a company focused on digital assets received a license from the regulator. Last September, SEBA added a license to offer digital assets to Swiss-domiciled mutual funds.

“We plan to expand into a number of new priority markets globally with this funding including the Middle East. This funding will also be used to grow our headcount across these new priority markets,” SEBA Bank CEO Guido Buehler told CoinDesk in an email. “In addition, funding will be used to drive institutional business growth through further investment in our product offering and technology.”

SEBA Bank currently supports over 25 markets globally. The company recently appointed an APAC CEO to solidify its presence in Hong Kong and Singapore. SEBA has also opened a dedicated office in Abu Dhabi for its Middle East push.

Buehler told CoinDesk that research and development are core features of SEBA Bank’s business, and the new funding will continue to drive the search for innovative financial services technology. Buehler cited as examples SEBA’s launch of SEBA Earn in October for earning yield on crypto, and the recent debut of Gold Token, a digital token backed by physical gold.

“Given the global regulatory trend of digital assets, we envision that regulated crypto financial institutions like Swiss-licensed SEBA Bank would become the cornerstone of the future finance,” said Altive Managing Partner Cheney Cheng in the press release.

By Brandy Betz