Digital Asset Infrastructure Provider Taurus Raises USD 65m Series B From Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank
by Fintechnews Switzerland February 14, 2023Geneva based Digital asset infrastructure provider Taurus annunced a USD 65 million Series B capital raise from strategic investors.
Taurus’ Series B round is led by Credit Suisse and includes participation from new institutional investors such as Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group, Cedar Mundi Ventures, as well as from Series A investors, Arab Bank Switzerland and Investis, a stock-listed real-estate group. Taurus co-founders, Lamine Brahimi, Sébastien Dessimoz, Oren-Olivier Puder and Dr. Jean-Philippe Aumasson, remain the largest shareholders of Taurus and at the helm of the Company. The transaction was approved by the Swiss regulator, FINMA.
The funds will be used to support Taurus’ growth strategy across three main priorities:
(1) hire top engineering talent to further develop what is considered as the most complete platform in the industry;
(2) get closer to clients and expand the sales and customer success organization of its infrastructure solutions with new offices Europe, UAE and soon after in the Americas and South-East Asia, and
(3) maintain the most stringent security, risk and compliance requirements across product lines, processes and organizations.
The preferred platform for Tier 1 banks. Expanding client footprint with large consumer brands
Taurus already works with more than 25 financial institutions and corporate clients in eight countries and three continents, including systemically important financial institutions, retail and online banks, private banks, crypto-banks, investment banks, and broker-dealers. Amongst its clients are banks such as Arab Bank Switzerland, CACEIS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Pictet, Swissquote, Vontobel. These achievements allowed Taurus to establish itself as the #1 digital asset infrastructure provider for Tier 1 banks in Europe.
Lamine Brahimi
Lamine Brahimi, co-founder and Managing Partner of Taurus, said:
“Raising USD 65mn in the current market environment tells a lot about the quality of Taurus’ people and products. We are proud to welcome such high-profile investors and benefit from their expertise to further develop one of the richest platforms in the industry, covering any type of digital assets, way beyond cryptocurrencies.”
André Helfenstein
André Helfenstein, CEO, Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd., commented:
“The strategic partnership with Taurus is a cornerstone of the Swiss Bank division’s digital assets strategy with the ambition to become the leading Swiss bank in that space. We continue to embrace new and innovative technologies and expect to soon launch several digital asset services for clients both on the issuing and the investment side.”
Sabih Behzad
Sabih Behzad, Head of Digital Assets and Currencies Transformation, Deutsche Bank, concluded:
“We will integrate Taurus‘ technology in our own IT environment. This will form a key part of our digital asset custody platform and will make it easier for us to develop and roll out our digital asset custody offering. Through this investment, Deutsche Bank is delighted to partner on the development of the market for digital assets.”
In April 2021, Taurus obtained a FINMA license as a securities firm and operator of an organized trading facility. In June 2021, Taurus launched a regulated marketplace for tokenized assets.
Featured image credit: Taurus co-founders (left to right): Lamine Brahimi, Dr Jean-Philippe Aumasson, Oren-Olivier Puder, Sebastien Dessimoz
