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Institutional crypto trading technology provider Talos has raised $40 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Talos announced on 27 May.
According to the press release, some of the largest venture capital (VC) firms in the crypto sector also took part in the funding round, including PayPal Ventures, Fidelity Investments, Galaxy Digital, Elefund, Illuminate Financial and Steadfast Capital Ventures. The CEO and co-founder of Talos, Anton Katz, explained that the firm has gained “significant traction” in the past two years, adding that:
“Now, by partnering with some of the most prominent players in the global financial markets, we can realize our goal of providing the fabric for institutional trading of digital assets around the world.”
Founded in 2018, Talos provides financial institutions with services such as liquidity sourcing, direct market access, price discovery, automated execution, reporting, clearing and settlement. The newly acquired funds will help the firm expand its institutional trading platform so it can “stay ahead as the digital assets market structure matures”, Talos’ CTO Ethan Feldman explained.
Peter Sanborn, managing partner at PayPal Ventures, elaborated on the decision to support Talos: “Talos’s enterprise-scale software provides that critical market structure support and enables institutions to reliably interact with digital currencies.”
Andreessen Horowitz has shown great support for cryptocurrency and blockchain-focused startups, with the VC firm backing various projects for about $76 million this year alone. Earlier this week, a16z also led Chia Network’s $61 million Series D funding round, the funds from which will help Chia accelerate its ambition to become a trading and payments system used by governments, banks, and other institutions.