Wall Street Bets on Crypto Data Firm Kaiko as Funding Round Grows to $110 Million
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Wall Street’s push into blockchain-based 24-hour trading and asset tokenization is drawing global financial firms to crypto data provider Kaiko.
Bloomberg reported on September 14 that S&P Global led Kaiko’s latest funding round. DRW Holdings, Susquehanna and Royal Bank of Canada also participated, along with Nasdaq, BNP Paribas, Coinbase Ventures and Stellar. The round has now expanded to a total of $110 million.
Kaiko said it will use the funds to develop new products and services. Chief Executive Officer Ambre Soubiran did not disclose the company’s valuation.
The investment comes as tokenization of traditional financial assets such as stocks, bonds and funds spreads across Wall Street, allowing them to be issued and transferred on blockchain networks. As trading shifts toward a 24-hour model, infrastructure that can provide real-time data for pricing, collateral valuation and risk management stands to become more important.
Traditional financial markets operate within set trading hours, and closing prices are a key benchmark for asset valuation. Crypto markets, by contrast, have run around the clock from the outset, and companies such as Kaiko already collect and process price data in real time.
“A market that runs 24 hours a day needs infrastructure that also operates 24 hours a day,” said Kim Trautmann, head of DRW Venture Capital. As more assets and use cases move on-chain, pricing, collateral and risk management will also need to happen in real time, he added.
Kaiko’s new investors will also join an industry consortium that aims to establish data and infrastructure standards for future tokenized products.
“Tokenization is becoming a reality,” Soubiran said. “You need data to apply tokenized assets to real-world use cases.”
Founded in 2014, Kaiko provides market data, analytics and indexes to financial institutions and crypto companies. Earlier this month, it launched the S&P Kaiko Digital Assets Index after combining its crypto index business with S&P Dow Jones Indices.
The company has about 120 employees worldwide and recently acquired U.S. crypto data provider Amberdata and crypto infrastructure firm Cometh.
