Anchorage raises $ 350 million to improve institutional crypto infrastructure

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“This funding positions Anchorage Digital to meet unprecedented institutional demand for this rapidly changing market”

Anchorage Digital has raised $ 350 million in a Series D funding round led by global investment firm KKR that values ​​the digital asset exchange at over $ 3 billion.

In January, the crypto-native company made headlines for receiving a banking charter from the Office of the Comptroller (OCC).

Having started as a custodian, Anchorage has built a solid suite of additional services such as secure trading, financing, staking and governance.

The goal is to bring institutional players to the emerging asset class that is crypto. The $ 350 million in funds raised this week will be used to improve its infrastructure solutions for global financial companies and fintech innovators.

Anchorage will also invest to accelerate and simplify customer engagement with the latest crypto innovations and increase the size of its team to continue to expand its product offerings and grow its customer base.

Diogo Mónica, President and Co-Founder of Anchorage Digital, commented, “As more institutions look to add crypto services to their offerings, we find ourselves at an inflection point. This funding positions Anchorage Digital to meet the unprecedented institutional demand for this rapidly changing market. We are grateful that KKR and this larger group of investors share our vision of expanding regulated institutional access to digital assets.

The fundraiser also included investments from big names in the industry such as Goldman Sachs, Alameda Research, Andreessen Horowitz, Apollo Credit Funds, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Blockchain Capital, Delta Blockchain Fund, Elad Gil , GIC, GoldenTree Asset Management, Innovius Capital, Kraken, Lux Capital, PayPal Ventures, Senator Investment Group, Standard Investments, Thoma Bravo and Wellington Management.

As for KKR, the main investor in this round, pledged funds through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II, a fund dedicated to growth equity investment opportunities in the technology space.

Ben Pederson, Senior Director of KKR’s Technology Growth Equity team, said: “As a pioneer in providing institutional investors with access to digital assets, Anchorage has built an institutional-grade digital asset platform that combines the best modern security practices and user-friendliness. We are excited to lead this D-Series and to work with Diogo, Nathan and their talented team as they continue to support the institutional adoption of digital assets through their suite of differentiated, regulated and integrated solutions.

Oli Harris, Head of Digital Assets North America at Goldman Sachs, added, “We are confident that Anchorage will be a critical part of the digital asset infrastructure and we are delighted to be an investor. “

Anchorage enjoyed a very dynamic year of growth in 2021, with important milestones including the receipt of a Federal Banking Charter from the OCC, the announcement of an $ 80 million Series C cycle, facilitating the Visa’s purchase of one of the most popular NFT series, Cryptopunk # 7610, growing workforce by 175% to date in 2021, and business growth exceeding 800% in each of the past two years.

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