UK startups move to expand into Asia
It has emerged in recent days that two London-headquartered crypto startups have taken steps towards expanding into the Asian market.
Funding to fuel Asian expansion
Haruko, an investment platform that focuses on digital assets based in London, announced that it has raised $6 million in a Series A funding round, with the intention of using the funds to propel the company’s expansion into Southeast Asia.
The round was led by White Star Capital and MMC Ventures. Combined with an initial seed round which was completed in March 2022, Haruko has raised a total of $16 million. The firm provided details of its latest funding earlier this week through a press release published via AccessWire.
Having been founded in 2021, the startup has established its operations in Europe and North America, adding in excess of 50 institutions to its client list. Those clients include hedge funds, family offices, market makers, over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks, digital asset custodians and prime brokerages.
Haruko co-founder and CEO Shamyl Malik spoke to the firm’s global expansion plans, stating:
"We're looking forward to continuing our global expansion, investing in exceptionally talented team members to support us in our goal of building out an industry-leading, end-to-end solution for digital assets and the future of the finance industry. We will continue to invest singularly in this mission, ensuring the quality of our products and services is at the forefront of all our activity."
The company has already established a base in Singapore through which it can expand further into the Asian market. Asia is clearly becoming an attractive destination for crypto startups as alongside Haruko, a recent announcement from crypto custodian Copper outlined that it has acquired a trading license in Hong Kong.
TCSP license in Hong Kong
The London-headquartered digital assets custodian outlined on X that it has secured a Trust or Company Service Provider (TCSP) license in Hong Kong from the autonomous Chinese territory’s Companies Registry. Copper CEO Dmitry Tokarev commented on the milestone, stating:
"Combining trust and efficiency is fundamental to our institution-first approach. This license approval in a key global hub only strengthens that unique offer, highlighting Copper’s compliance with Hong Kong’s regulatory frameworks and standards."
The license enables the company in extending the offering of its digital asset custody services to clients in Hong Kong. Tokarev added that the license approval “is a key development in Copper’s expansion in the Asia Pacific market.”
Back in 2020, the firm raised $8 million in funding in a Series A round that, as with Haruko, featured MMC Ventures, with a view towards expanding into Asia and North America. Towards the end of last year, the firm launched a settlement network for institutional crypto traders. Its ClearLoop network enables clients to manage collateral and settle trades across a number of exchanges while increasing capital efficiency and mitigating counterparty risk.
Over the course of the month of June, the company claimed to have processed 13.1 million trades via ClearLoop, accounting for a notional traded volume of $109.9 billion. 17,500 individual risk clearing settlements were finalized, with 3,600 inter-exchange movements. The company had a number of significant announcements last month, including a collaboration with the Sui layer-1 blockchain and the integration of the ClearLoop system by global crypto exchange, Kraken.
