Pontoro, the financial tech firm focused on creating the first institutional-grade digital asset securitization and liquidity platform to address “the $15 trillion shortfall in infrastructure debt finance by enabling broader investor participation,” has announced a $6 million preferred seed round that was led by Ulu Ventures.
Pontoro’s investment round included contributions from Franklin Templeton, Neva Sgr. the venture group of Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Illuminate Financial, Adit Ventures, Fin Venture Capital, Viking Maccabee Ventures, Bloccelerate Ventures, Nevcaut Ventures, Quest Venture Partners, and others.
The proceeds from the round will be channeled towards scaling Pontoro’s digital asset platform, which will “curate infrastructure project loans from banks into a tokenized and securitized digital asset pool.”
The announcement also mentioned that this will “enable a wider spectrum of institutional investors to gain access to an increasingly diverse portfolio of hard-to-access assets with the ability for secondary liquidity and enhanced price discovery.”
Based on Ethereum and interacting with other chains, Pontoro’s blockchain-powered platform has the “potential to significantly reduce transaction times and settlement risk, improve cost efficiencies, and provide opportunities to tap into emerging digital liquidity pools.”
Antonio Vitti, Co-founder and CEO of Pontoro, stated:
“Our platform is designed to help solve challenges for increasing private capital in infrastructure financing, which stems from participants’ constraints in supporting greater lending capacity even as investors have a strong demand for the asset class. We are building the digitally enabled bridge for the future of infrastructure financing, and the validation from a range of top investors will enable us to address this opportunity and expand the necessary strategic partnerships to become the leading conduit between an expanded range of institutional investors and originating banks.”
In addition, the firm will continue to recruit new talent and further “advance its discussions with leading global banks and institutional investors involved in the adoption and use of the platform’s capabilities.”
Paul Atkins, Regulatory Advisor to Pontoro, remarked:
“Financial institutions and investors are increasingly interested in the power of digital technologies, but they want a partner with a strong track record in private market assets and the deep regulatory expertise to build compliant platforms. I am thrilled to support a team of experts who bring vast experience in the institutional finance and infrastructure sectors, as well as the sophisticated technical ability, to deliver an effective innovation.”
Pontoro continues to strengthen its senior leadership team, which has “a combined global $100 billion infrastructure finance track record,” and includes Co-founder & Chief Investment Officer Bob Dewing, former Managing Director, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Infrastructure Debt Strategy, Head of Product Isaac Eleftheriadis, former Senior Technical Product Manager, BitGo.
It also includes advisors Ben Chan, former Chief Technology Officer, BitGo, Paul Naumann, former Managing Director, GE Energy Financial Services, Martin Reese, former CFO, InterGen, Annemarie Tierney, former VP Head of Strategy and New Markets, NASDAQ Private Markets, and Paul Atkins, former SEC Commissioner.
The investment round “endorses Pontoro’s mission to enhance institutional investor access to real assets and help banks free up capital for new project finance loans.”
Miriam Rivera, CEO and MD of Ulu Ventures, commented:
“Infrastructure financing uniquely benefits the whole of society, and we are thrilled to invest in the Pontoro platform to help broaden participation in this asset class. Pontoro has the promise to significantly enhance capital flows from existing financial institutions by creating a more inclusive investor base for infrastructure assets.”