Helix raises $2 million to connect crypto investors with private credit yields

Helix, a startup incubated by Singapore-based private credit business Helicap, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding for its real-world assets protocol.

Saison Capital and Superscrypt led the round, with participation from Emurgo Ventures, Comma3 Ventures, Outlier Ventures, Emoote and others. No valuation was disclosed.

The project aims to enable blockchain-based lending to businesses across Southeast Asia, according to an announcement today. Its platform pairs proprietary credit assessment tools with a pipeline of credit opportunities spanning a range of sectors.

“There is a demand to get sustainable yields within the crypto ecosystem,” Jitendra Singh Jaitawat, co-founder and CEO of Helix and a former executive director at Goldman Sachs Technology, told The Block in an interview. “The idea was: how do we remove friction and bring them the product right within their native ecosystem?”

He added that Helix will target crypto businesses “sitting on stablecoin liquidity.”

In its announcement, Helix said it may also look to enable institutional liquidity providers to trade tokenized loan assets before maturity.  

Incubated by Helicap

Helix was incubated by Helicap, a private credit platform that has disbursed more than $200 million in loans in Southeast Asia since launching in early 2018. Helicap itself raised $5 milion from PhillipCapital and Tikehau Capital last year and has raised $10 million in equity funding to date.

The Helix protocol is set for a planned launch on Ethereum ETH -1.21% in the fourth quarter of this year and may later expand to other chains. Its pre-seed funding will be used to prepare for the launch, as well as to hire more business development and engineering staff, Jaitawat said.

Looi Qin En, a partner at Saison Capital, said in a written statement, “Having led Helicap’s Series A round in 2020, we have witnessed the team’s track record of facilitating private credit transactions across the region and robust credit analytics.”

“The blockchain ecosystem now unlocks new opportunities for web3-native institutions who are seeking sustainable yield. We believe Helix is well-positioned to bring both credit opportunities and on-chain global liquidity to address the rapidly growing demand for credit.”