HomeFundingLondon-based Elliptic raises €21 million to identify financial crimes on the bitcoin...

London-based Elliptic raises €21 million to identify financial crimes on the bitcoin blockchain

London-based Elliptic provides crypto-asset risk management solutions for businesses and financial institutions worldwide. Founded in 2013, Elliptic identifies illicit activity on the bitcoin blockchain, and provides actionable intelligence to financial institutions and law enforcement agencies to reduce bitcoin transaction risk.

The startup has now raised €21 million in a Series B round led by Tokyo-based SBI Group, along with new investment from AlbionVC, and participation from existing investors including SignalFire, Octopus Ventures, and Santander Innoventures. Tomoyuki Nii from SBI Group will be joining the Board of Directors, along with Ed Lascelles of AlbionVC.

Elliptic has so far assessed risks on transactions worth several trillion dollars, uncovering activities related to money laundering, terrorist fundraising, fraud, and other financial crimes. With its headquarters in London, Elliptic also has offices in New YorkSingapore, and Tokyo.

The new investment will fuel Elliptic’s continuing expansion into Asia, with new offices opening in Japan and Singapore. Revenue from clients based in Asia has increased by a factor of 11 over the past two years. The funding will also be used to accelerate product development to support an emerging class of asset-backed crypto-assets such as Facebook’s Libra, Line Corporation’s LINK and central bank digital currencies.

Elliptic’s suite of solutions is used by over 100 companies worldwide, which rely on the startup to screen billions of dollars in transactions every day, analysing them for links to illicit activity including money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, and other financial crimes.

Elliptic’s global expansion coincides with a growing regulatory focus on the crypto industry and the corresponding demand for compliance solutions. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently established a global regulatory framework for crypto-assets, while Facebook’s Libra has seen intense scrutiny from governments worldwide.

We believe it no longer makes sense to think of a divide between the crypto economy and the wider financial system,” said Dr. James Smith, co-founder and CEO of Elliptic. “Crypto-assets represent new opportunities for financial institutions, and as they move towards addressing these, we are here to support them.

“Elliptic’s work to enable trust, transparency, and accountability within the industry has played a critical role in the push beyond cryptocurrency’s experimental phase. This new investment will allow us to double down on our mission to enable the crypto industry to grow and take shape.”

“We believe that crypto-assets will play an increasingly important role in our everyday lives and are shaping the future of banking,” said Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Group. “Our investment in Elliptic is a further commitment to this belief and to SBI Group’s appetite to help build the digital asset-related ecosystem.”

- Advertisement -
Mary Loritz
Mary Loritz
Mary served as Head of Content at EU-Startups.com from November 2018 until November 2019. She is an experienced journalist and researcher covering tech and business topics.
RELATED ARTICLES

Most Popular