Global private market exchange ADDX now has around $140 million in total funds after it raised $20 million from its pre-Series B round.
Part of the newly raised capital will be spent on growing ADDX Advantage, the company’s wealth management platform that was launched early this year for private banks, brokerages and family offices, and for the firm’s global expansion, which include plans to enter more markets both by working with partners and by obtaining new licenses. ADDX is currently regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Its latest investments came from new and existing shareholders led by KB Securities, a subsidiary of Korea’s largest banking group KB Financial Group (KBFG).
KB Securities joins more than a dozen financial institutions that have become shareholders of ADDX. The others are Singapore Exchange (SGX), Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), Hamilton Lane, Temasek subsidiary Heliconia Capital, UOB, Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group, Krungsri Bank and Hanwha Asset Management.
When the funding round kicked off in May 2022, ADDX announced a US$58 million fundraise involving new shareholders Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), Hamilton Lane and UOB.
Under the new partnership, KB Securities and ADDX plan to pursue possible tie-ups that will expand private market services in Asia, including potential collaborations in Singapore or Korea.
“ADDX has become the focal point for Asian financial institutions that believe in building a new technology-driven infrastructure for private markets, to overcome inefficiencies in the traditional model. In these volatile times, with many investors waiting by the sidelines for more stability in the financial markets, our ability to raise capital demonstrates the momentum behind ADDX and its mission,” ADDX CEO Oi-Yee Choo said.
The recent backing that they received from KB Securities is a “truly exciting development” that is filled with various potentials and opportunities that will surely benefit their clients, Choo added.
ADDX was founded in 2017 to give individual investors greater access to private market deals that have been traditionally open only to institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds and endowment funds. These include private credit and other fixed income investments, private equity, hedge funds and private real estate.
Using blockchain and smart contract technology, the exchange is able to automate manual processes, thereby bringing minimum subscription sizes down from $1 million to $5,000 while allowing secondary trading. ADDX has also built a fully digital infrastructure for its regulated platform, with 60% of investment subscriptions now happening via its mobile app.
As of 2022, ADDX has already grown the base of investors that it serves by around 80%, year-on-year.
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