Digital asset manager Moneybox managed to raise £35 million, approximately $46 million in a Series D funding round led by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures to launch crypto investments.
In Brief:
- The funds will be used to expand Moneybox’s brand, grow its customer base, add a wider range of ETFs, etc.
- Moneybox will not enable crypto trading but will instead focus on portfolio diversification.
In an interview with AltFi, Moneybox co-founder and co-CEO Ben Stanway stated that this funding would assist the firm to deliver on the “societal need for the mass market to have wealth planning, savings and services made available to them”.
The funding round also saw participation from existing investors as well as a new investor Polar Capital, bringing the total funds raised by the digital asset manager to £95 million.
Moneybox’s assets under management have more than tripled since its previous £30 million Series C funding in July 2020, and the company’s staffing pool has increased to 300 people.
According to Stanway, the funds will be used to expand Moneybox’s brand, grow its customer base, launch its first financial planning services, add a wider range of ETFs, and launch crypto-investing.
Stanway went on to say that the Moneybox app will not enable cryptocurrency trading but will instead focus on portfolio diversification. He added an example of holding “a couple of percent” in Bitcoin as part of a more extensive portfolio.
“We’re going to be expanding [into crypto] through the lens of diversification, not through the lens of speculation,” he noted.
While Moneybox’s crypto ambitions are still in the early phases of development, Stanway stated that he “wouldn’t be surprised if on day one… it was just Bitcoin, or maybe Bitcoin and perhaps one or two other [tokens].”
Moneybox’s current product offerings are ISAs, LISAs, SIPPs, GIAs, JISAs, a cash platform, pension aggregation service, and a mortgage counseling service.
With this additional investment, Stanway said his investors have a very long term outlook on Moneybox’s future. The firm’s Series D round is yet not completed but Stanway indicated a crowdfunding round will be launched in the coming weeks.
Alokik Advani, managing partner at Fidelity stated “Moneybox is at a significant inflection point in its journey and this next chapter of growth will see them introduce new unique investment solutions helping to support millions as they save for the future.
Two days back gaming NFT marketplace Fractal raised $35M in its seed funding round led by Paradigm and Multicoin Capital. The funds raised will be used to expand their team by hiring more engineers, recruiting and supporting game developers and growing a vibrant ecosystem of GameFi participants.