Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic names new CEO as it focuses on Asia expansion

Elliptic, a blockchain analytics firm, has named a new chief executive officer.

Revealing the news exclusively to The Block on Tuesday, Elliptic said its COO, Simone Maini, has taken on the top job at the company.

Maini has succeeded James Smith, who has now moved into the newly-created position of CTO.

"At the end of 2019, I started to think about how to ensure Elliptic was best set up for success in 2020 and beyond, and concluded that I would be most effective in a different role," Smith told The Block.

In his new role, Smith, a computer science Ph.D. holder, will focus on product and engineering challenges. Maini, on the other hand, will focus on Elliptic's business growth.

The leadership changes come two weeks after layoffs at Elliptic, as The Block first reported at the time. The company cut 30% of its workforce in the U.S. and the U.K. offices, representing 28 employees, citing the economic challenges spurred by the global coronavirus pandemic.

London-based Elliptic today said it is focused on in its next phase of growth, particularly in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

"Our team has grown from 2 to 6 people in the region since the beginning of the year. We closed more than 5 times as much business in APAC in Q1 this year compared to the same period last year," Maini told The Block, without disclosing specific figures. 

Maini, who is now based in Singapore, went on to say that Elliptic has seen "consistent growth" in the number of customers onboarding in the past six months across all regions amid the coronavirus pandemic. Elliptic has recently also signed partnerships "with a number of high profile customers who are entering the crypto space for the first time," said Maini, without disclosing names.

"Many of these are household names but they prefer not to be discussed publicly at this time," she added.

Last December, Elliptic launched its Discovery product offering, specially designed for banks that are looking to do business with crypto exchanges. When asked if any notable banks have signed for the product, Smith told The Block that "large international banks" in Japan, APAC, Europe and the U.S. are using the product, without revealing any names.

Unlike competitors such as Chainalysis, Elliptic remains focused on getting business from corporates rather than government agencies, said Smith, who added that "we do not depend on revenue from them [law enforcement agencies]."

Blockchain analytics firms tend to chase a similar set of clients in a limited market. But Smith does not seem concerned about this issue. "Every year since [Elliptic’s founding in] 2013, I've been asked about the limited size of the market. We have seen the industry grow every year, and this will continue until crypto is fully embedded in the financial system," he said. 

Financially speaking, Elliptic’s net loss widened in FY2018 to ~$2.8 million as compared to a net loss of ~$2.45 million in FY2017, as The Block reported earlier this month. Smith, at the time, said Elliptic remains in a "strong" financial position.

Reiterating Smith’s comment, Maini today told The Block: “We're a venture-backed business, and a net loss is not at all unusual during a phase of fast growth. We recently raised $28 million and have several years of runway."

Elliptic raised $23 million in its Series B funding round in September 2019, and earlier this year, it nabbed another $5 million investment from Wells Fargo Strategic Capital. That investment brought Elliptic’s total funding to date to $40 million.