Business Wire

CA-KRAKEN

11.2.2021 15:32:09 CET | Business Wire | Press release

Share
Kraken Backs Launch of Venture Capital Fund

Kraken Digital Asset Exchange, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, today announced its backing of the newly launched Kraken Ventures, an independent investment fund targeting early stage companies and protocols across the crypto and fintech ecosystem. The fund will invest in the technologies powering the next wave of crypto and fintech innovation and provide entrepreneurs with the financial resources and industry expertise needed to build and scale their business.

Kraken Ventures will focus on areas including fintech, crypto companies & protocols, decentralized finance (DeFi) as well as enabling technologies such as AI, Machine and Deep Learning, Reg Tech, and cybersecurity. Kraken Ventures offers the best of both worlds in being a completely autonomous fund that’s backed by the resources and expertise of Kraken.

Led by a team with extensive experience in the crypto and financial services industry and leveraging its strategic partnership with Kraken, portfolio companies get access to the ideal environment for their teams to collaborate across the Kraken and broader fintech ecosystem. The fintech and crypto ecosystems will continue to be drawn closer together and Kraken Ventures will be investing at the intersection of these two dynamic industries.

Jesse Powell, co-founder and CEO of Kraken said: “As we enter the crypto industry’s next growth phase, Kraken Ventures will support entrepreneurs in making the financial system more open, inclusive, and transparent. With a strong team in place, Kraken Ventures offers the right combination of resources to bring the best ideas to their full potential. We’ve arrived at the point where crypto is starting to show its true potential, transforming the financial services industry and creating truly global, digital economies.”

Kraken Ventures will be led by Brandon Gath, who has 20 years of experience in the financial services and crypto industries. He most recently served as the Head of Corporate Development at Kraken and prior to joining Kraken helped lead CME Ventures, where he was an early investor in numerous unicorn startups across fintech, AI, Deep Learning, Quantum Computing and Crypto. He led early investments in Orbital Insight, Crosslend, Digital Currency Group, Nervana Systems, Crypto Facilities, Privitar, and Fortscale. Brandon has a wealth of professional experience ranging across venture capital, M&A, investing banking, and consulting. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago in Entrepreneurial Finance.

Brandon Gath, General Partner of Kraken Ventures said: “Fintech and specifically crypto technology provides the opportunity to drastically change how businesses and consumers exchange and store value, invest, lend, borrow, and conduct global commerce. We take a long-term view on investing to add value from inception through each growth phase of our portfolio companies’ evolution. We will take a hands-on approach with our portfolio companies to provide guidance, new commercial opportunities and additional capital support. The possibility to leverage Kraken’s experience building a truly global, scalable platform enables us to support our portfolio companies from inception to market leadership. We’ve already identified some of the best opportunities out there and expect to announce our first investments in the near future.”

Brandon will be joined by Kirill Gourov and Akshi Federici . Kirill currently supports strategic investment for Kraken and previously managed blockchain investments for a New York-based multifamily office. Prior to this, he led blockchain strategy efforts at Expand Research, a subsidiary of The Boston Consulting Group. He has been actively involved in the Bitcoin community since early 2013 and has over 7 years of experience in the blockchain industry including investment, strategy development for both public and private chain applications, and business development for blockchain projects. Akshi Federici is a seasoned strategic operator with over 15 years of experience in the financial services and cryptocurrencies industries with The Boston Consulting Group, BlackRock, Conde Nast, ConsenSys, and Kraken.

For more information, please visit www.krakenventures.com

About Kraken

Based in San Francisco, Kraken is the world’s largest global digital asset exchange based on euro volume and liquidity. Kraken’s clients trade more than 50 digital assets and 7 different fiat currencies, including EUR, USD, CAD, GBP, JPY, CHF and AUD. Kraken was founded in 2011 and is the first digital asset exchange to have its market data displayed on the Bloomberg Terminal and one of the first to offer spot trading with margin, regulated derivatives and index services. Kraken is trusted by more than 5 million traders, institutions and authorities around the world.

Kraken is backed by investors including Hummingbird Ventures, Blockchain Capital and Digital Currency Group, among others. For more information about Kraken, please visit www.kraken.com .

Link:

ClickThru

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

The Premier Jumping League (PJL) Launches with a Record-Breaking $300 Million Guaranteed Prize Pot, Defining a New Era for Showjumping30.3.2026 11:00:00 CEST | Press release

The PJL empowers riders to compete as full-time professional athletes while working towards a sustainable economic model for the sport. Backed by McCourt Global and shaped by a leadership team with decades of experience in equestrian competition, sport, and entertainment, the PJL sets a new, sustainable, and globally relevant standard for elite jumping. Sixteen teams will compete across fourteen iconic international venues throughout Europe, North America, and the Middle East when the inaugural season opens in March 2027. The Premier Jumping League (PJL) launches with a record-breaking $300 million guaranteed prize pot, defining a new era for showjumping. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330990938/en/ Photography credits: Daniel Benson for The Premier Jumping League/ Wieden+Kennedy London Backed by McCourt Global and its Executive Chairman, Frank McCourt, the PJL is a groundbreaking global competition that e

Dompé Announces First Patient Enrolled in New Study of Intranasal NGF in Cerebral Palsy30.3.2026 11:00:00 CEST | Press release

Cerebral Palsy (CP) refers to a group of permanent disorders in the development of movement and posture, which causes activity limitations, and is attributed to non-progressive disturbances that occurred in the developing fetal or infant brain.1 Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a naturally-occurring protein that supports damaged nerve cells and improves nervous system signaling, Dompé is investigating whether intranasal NGF has the potential to improve movement and neurodevelopment and address underlying brain damage in people with CP. Dompé’s intranasal NGF platform builds on the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of neurobiologist Professor Rita Levi-Montalcini and biochemist Dr. Stanley Cohen. Dompé, a leading biopharmaceutical company with operations in Italy and in the U.S., announced that the first patient has been enrolled at the Agostino Gemelli IRCCS University Hospital in Rome, Italy, in a Phase 2 investigational study of an intranasal form of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) (Cenegermin-bkb

IQM Secures €50M Financing to Accelerate Global Growth30.3.2026 08:00:00 CEST | Press release

€50 million financing package from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock will support IQM to scale operations, accelerate product development, and strengthen its market position. The facility will support acceleration of IQM’s technology roadmap, fuel R&D, support entry into additional markets, and advance IQM’s leadership in quantum computing as IQM prepares for public listing. IQM Finland Oy, a global leader in full-stack superconducting quantum computers (“IQM”, “IQM Quantum Computers” or the “Company”), today announced it has secured a €50 millionfinancing package from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260329996942/en/ IQM Radiance quantum computer is located in IQM's showroom in Espoo, Finland. This facility will support acceleration of IQM’s technology roadmap, fuel R&D, support entry into additional markets, and advance IQM’s leadership in quantum computing. This

Bureau Veritas and Trade Technologies Join Forces to Streamline Global Trade Operations30.3.2026 07:45:00 CEST | Press release

Bureau Veritas, a global leader in Testing, Inspection, and Certification services (TIC), through its Swiss branch Government Services Division, is pleased to announce a strategic agreement with Trade Technologies, the leading provider of trade finance automation, connectivity and transaction management services. This collaboration is a significant step toward reducing the complexities of international trade operations, particularly in regions where regulatory and inspection controls remain stringent. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260329411683/en/ Addressing Critical Trade Finance Challenges The agreement comes at a pivotal time for global trade. Letters of Credit (LCs) continue to serve as essential instruments in international commerce, particularly across the Middle East and Africa, where counterparty risk, foreign exchange controls, sanctions exposure, and regulatory oversight face ongoing challenges. In

Consortium Led by Axelspace Selected for Japan’s Space Strategy Fund Project “Technology to Enhance Capability of Next Generation Earth Observation Satellites”30.3.2026 01:35:00 CEST | Press release

~ Creating Climate Solutions and New Market Opportunities through Source-Specific CO2 Emission and Uptake Monitoring via Satellite Constellation and Aircraft ~ Axelspace Corporation, Meisei Electric Co., Ltd., ANA HOLDINGS INC., and JIJ Inc. are pleased to announce that their jointly proposed technology development project has been selected for Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s Space Strategy Fund under the theme “Technology to Enhance Capability of Next Generation Earth Observation Satellites.” This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260323044518/en/ Conceptual Diagram of the project. Under this Space Strategy Fund initiative, spectrometers will be newly developed and demonstrated in orbit. In the future, the project envisions the establishment of a satellite constellation capable of observations at different times of the day. Project Summary (Planned) Technology Development Theme: Technology to Enhance Cap

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye