Securitize, a San Francisco-based Blockchain startup, on Tuesday announced an investment sum received from SBI Investment, the asset management subsidiary of Tokyo-listed SBI Holdings.
Though the company did not disclose the exact amount of investment, according to multiple media reports, Securitize received a cheque with seven figures on it.
The new investment came months after the company raised $14 million from the venture capital arm of the three major global banks - Banco Santander, MUFG, and Nomura Holdings.
Per Coindesk, proceeds from the fresh investment will be utilized in building a new office in Japan, which is scheduled for a late-2019 launch.
โWeโre going to do business there and that involves not only finding customers in Japan, but also localizing the technology and making sure you know the language for the next similar types of integrations that you might be looking at,โ Carlos Domingo, founder and chief executive of Securitize told the crypto-focused publication.
Tokenizing the financial world
Founded in 2018, the San Francisco-headquartered company offers a range of services to help companies create blockchain-based security tokens.
Tokenization of securities is viewed as the next major milestone in the financial market, and Asian markets are at the forefront of this. With investment from multiple Japanese financial giants, Securitize is pushing hard to penetrate the lucrative market, making a stronghold in the early stage.
Earlier this month, Securitize was appointed as the sole issuance platform provider for a 22-member blockchain consortium led by MUFJ, which was formed for research and development of standards for security token management.
Meanwhile, SBI is betting big on blockchain technology and partnered with an array of major players in the decade-old industry, including Ripple and R3. It also tied with Ripple to form an entity called SBI Ripple Asia to promote blockchain-based cross-border transfers in the region.