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

Festo, Softcat, ANS Group and SCC Demonstrate the Business Impact of AI-Powered Observability5.11.2026 09:00:00 CET | Press release

LogicMonitor's 2026 EMEA Elevate Award winners are reducing alert noise, accelerating incident detection and transforming IT operations with AI and automation LogicMonitor®, the AI-first platform for Autonomous IT, announced the 2026 Elevate Award winners today at its Elevate Community Conference in London. The annual awards recognize LogicMonitor customers and partners that are achieving measurable business and operational outcomes through AI-powered observability. From consolidating 90% of monitoring tools and reducing alert noise by 85% to cutting observability case volumes by 45%, this year's EMEA winners demonstrate how organizations are simplifying complex IT environments, improving resilience and putting AI-powered operations into practice. “This year's EMEA Elevate Award winners are proving that the path to Autonomous IT starts with real, measurable improvements in how organizations operate,” said John Grosshans, President of Field Operations, LogicMonitor. “They're reducing co

New AGCO Power CORE Engines to Power Two New Tractors at EIMA 20265.11.2026 07:00:00 CET | Press release

AGCO Power’s CORE engine technology will be represented at EIMA International 2026 in new tractors from Massey Ferguson and Valtra. Developed from a clean sheet, the CORE engine family provides a next-generation platform for demanding off-highway applications. At EIMA International in Bologna, Italy, on November 10–14, 2026, visitors will be able to see how the AGCO Power CORE75 engine platform supports the different requirements of the Massey Ferguson new model MF 7S MARK 2 range and Valtra’s new sixth-generation Valtra T Series. A CORE75 engine will also be on display at the Valtra stand. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261104588496/en/ Massey Ferguson 7S MARK 2 The CORE engine family represents AGCO Power’s investment in a completely new engine platform at a time when few manufacturers are making comparable commitments to off-highway combustion engine development. The CORE engine family is designed to meet

SPIE Announces 2027 Prism Awards Finalists for Best Photonics Products4.11.2026 21:22:00 CET | Press release

The 19th annual competition recognizes groundbreaking technologies around the globe SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, has announced finalists in the seven categories for the 2027 Prism Awards, which recognize remarkable new photonics products on the market. Winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at SPIE Photonics West on 3 February 2027 in San Francisco, California. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261104613876/en/ SPIE has announced the finalists for the 2027 SPIE Prism Awards, which recognize optics and photonics innovations. Recipients will be announced at the awards ceremony on 3 February 2027 at SPIE Photonics West. During the Prism Awards, SPIE will also announce the winner of the SPIE Catalyst Award, honoring a for-profit company with social or environmental programs that have made significant advances in workplace opportunity, community engagement, or environmental

Every Critical System Should Have a Backup: Elliptic Opens Up Fast Track Monitoring to the Crypto Industry4.11.2026 21:07:00 CET | Press release

Fast Track Monitoring, powered by Elliptic Lens, gives compliance teams screening continuity when they need it most Elliptic, the leader in on-chain risk management, is making Fast Track Monitoring available to firms with digital assets exposure as a back up screening option for firms that need business continuity, if their primary screening service is unavailable and they need a second option. Criminals are increasingly using AI to scale their attacks, so on-chain risk now moves at machine speed. Compliance teams need the broadest range of options to keep screening every wallet and transaction, and a second screening provider builds resilience into any on-chain risk management approach. Elliptic recommends every business has one in place. Organizations that rely on a single screening vendor can also still need a second option. Fast Track Monitoring gives compliance teams real-time wallet and transaction screening powered by Elliptic Lens, with a clear, explainable risk score on every

Smartsheet Adds New AI Agents, Integrations and Security Advancements at ENGAGE 20264.11.2026 19:00:00 CET | Press release

New AI advancements take over status reports and routine follow-ups, powered by 20 years of workflow intelligence seeing how work happens and where it drifts, with enterprise security and governance built-in Smartsheet, the AI-powered enterprise work management platform, today announced new platform capabilities at ENGAGE 2026, its annual customer conference. The company introduced new AI agents, agentic workflows, system integrations and security controls built to end execution drift: the costly gap between what an organization sets out to deliver and what it actually delivers. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261104562370/en/ Today, Smartsheet introduced new AI agents, agentic workflows, system integrations and security controls built to end execution drift. AI has helped teams move faster, but it is also widening execution drift. As AI agents join people, partners and systems in doing the work, three problem

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