Citi Ventures co-leads $6 million round in crypto investment startup Xalts
Quick Take
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Citi Ventures co-led a $6 million funding round in Xalts, an investment-focused crypto startup.
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Xalts is building investment products to remove barriers that inhibit institutions from accessing the digital asset class in a secure and compliant manner, COO Supreet Kaur told The Block.
Citi Ventures and startup incubator Accel have co-led a $6 million investment round in crypto asset management company Xalts, Bloomberg reported.
“We are launching multiple fund products linked to digital assets, including mutual funds and ETFs listed on several global exchanges. We are also leveraging our technology platform to partner with several asset management firms and staking infrastructure providers to jointly launch and manage mutual funds and ETFs,” Xalts COO Supreet Kaur told The Block via Telegram.
Xalts’ founders hail from investment and technology backgrounds, with their Chief Investment Officer Ashutosh Goel boasting institutional trading experience at HSBC, Lehman Brothers and Nomura. Likewise, Kaur is a veteran operator and prior Meta Asia executive.
The company began with the idea of wrapping digital assets into investment products fit for institutional investors, the company said on Twitter. However, would-be institutional investors face numerous barriers in terms of tax treatment, technological burdens, as well as due diligence for legal and regulatory due custodians and credit layers, and more according to Kaur.
“In spite of having the risk appetite to invest in crypto,” Kaur said many institutional investors face too many initial barriers, accounting for which can cost “millions of dollars in budget and headcount approvals, just to get started.”
Xalts is developing several other products, collaborating with ecosystem players, according to Kaur, including “a structured product and repackaging platform which will allow institutions to issue structured notes with embedded crypto options.”
Citi and Accel are joined in the round by web3 investor AGBuild, and individual investors including Polygon Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Coinbase Lead Product Manager Nakul Gupta, and OYO Global Chief Strategy Officer, Maninder Gulati.
Citi, by way of Citi Ventures as well as Citi Salesforce Ventures, has invested in other crypto companies such as Blockdaemon and Chain.
Editor's Note: Corrects headline and quick takes to account for Citi's past crypto-related investments. Amended for clarity.
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