Tarun Chitra's Gauntlet raises $125 million Series C from sole investor SBI Holdings

Crypto yield curator Gauntlet has raised $125 million in a Series C funding round, with Japan's SBI Holdings as the sole investor through its U.S. subsidiary, SBI Holdings USA, Inc.

The investment marks SBI Holdings' continued push into crypto market infrastructure. Earlier this week, the Japanese financial giant was also the sole investor in institutional crypto platform EDX Markets' $76 million Series C funding round.

With the fresh capital, Gauntlet plans to expand stablecoin coverage beyond the U.S. dollar (USD) and euro (EUR) to include the Mexican peso (MXN), Japanese yen (JPY), and other fiat-backed stablecoins. The company also plans to launch new onchain offerings and grow its global team with AI-supported operations.

Founded in 2018 as a blockchain analytics company before later shifting to crypto vault curation, Gauntlet helps institutions deploy capital onchain into DeFi markets while providing risk management and optimization services. The company said it currently curates more than $1.5 billion in assets across its vaults and works with more than 150 fintechs and institutions.

"Vaults have proven themselves to be the next major revolution in financial markets," said Tarun Chitra, co-founder and CEO of Gauntlet. "Much like ETFs increased equity participation in the U.S. equities market, we expect tokenization and vaults to increase the size of the DeFi market faster than overall stablecoin growth in the next few years."

Chitra said the new funding will help Gauntlet expand globally as more financial activity moves onchain. He added that SBI's experience across traditional finance and crypto will help the company bring more institutions onchain.

For SBI, the investment is part of its broader strategy to bridge traditional financial services with digital asset infrastructure. The firm said the crypto market has grown and that it sees digital assets becoming part of the broader financial system rather than remaining a separate trend.

"As traditional finance makes an irreversible transition toward onchain finance, ensuring the reliability and transparency that allows investors to enter the market with peace of mind is our highest priority," Yoshitaka Kitao, representative director, chairman and president of SBI Holdings, said in a statement. "As regulatory clarity progresses in the U.S. with the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, we look forward to working with Gauntlet to build next-generation financial infrastructure that spans Japan, Asia and the world."

Gauntlet did not disclose the valuation for the Series C round. The company was last valued at $1 billion in 2022, when it raised $23.8 million in a Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital.

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