21.co, the parent company of crypto ETP issuer 21Shares, has raised $25m in its latest funding round led by hedge fund Marshall Wace.
This is 21.co’s first funding round in two years with the company’s valuation now standing at $2bn.
Other investors in the funding round include Collab+Currency, Quiet Ventures, ETFS Capital and Valor Equity Partners.
The firm said in a statement: “With this round of financing, 21.co will continue to drive rapid, targeted growth through first-of-their-kind products, key market expansions and strategic talent acquisitions.
“21.co has been on a tremendous journey to stay at the forefront of the market by providing investors with the most innovative crypto ETPs, the broadest token solutions, a decentralised software platform to create, list and manage ETPs globally and more forward-thinking solutions.”
Amit Rajpal, partner and CEO Asia at Marshall Wace, added: “Even in the middle of this crypto winter, Marshall Wace believes 21.co has the potential to revolutionise the industry globally and we are looking forward to working alongside the team.”
The raise comes amid a drop in funding round size. Despite the total value of investment deals in the crypto space hitting $14.7bn in Q2 – equal to the value of deals completed in Q1 – the average deal size has declined, according to CoinTelegraph.
In Q1, the average dollar value per deal was $32.1m which decreased to $26.8m in Q2. High inflation, geopolitical uncertainty and the collapse of stablecoin terra in May have dampened the crypto investment boom that has almost doubled in value quarter-on-quarter.
Switzerland-based 21.co was founded in 2018 by Ophelia Snyder and Hany Rashwan. The firm ran as much as $3bn assets under management in November 2021 when bitcoin traded at its all-time high.
As part of its ongoing push in the crypto ETP space, the firm has increased its headcount by 75% since September 2021.
This includes the recent appointments of Sherif El-Haddad, who joined as head of Middle East in August, alongside Oliver Schäfer, who is head of Germany, and Marina Baudéan who will lead the firm’s growth in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
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