Cion Digital, the turnkey blockchain interoperability platform provider, today announced it has closed a $12 million seed capital raise.
The capital will be utilized to expand research and development resources. It will also help accelerate the rollout of crypto financing and payment solutions tailored for financial services companies such as lenders, registered investment advisors, banks, and neobanks along with big-ticket retailers like auto, RV and marine, jewelry and luxury goods. The technology behind Cion Digital’s proprietary Blockchain Orchestration Platform will also be expanded.
The round was led by Green Visor Capital and 645 Ventures. Cota Capital, Epic Ventures, Hourglass Capital Partners, BAT Ventures, Ulu Ventures, and Greycroft also participated.
Cion Digital has created the industry’s first integrated suite of applications engineered to provide traditional businesses with turnkey crypto financing and payment solutions. The platform provides companies with the connectivity, infrastructure, and support to rapidly deploy blockchain-based, innovative real-time payments and financing.
The orchestration platform simplifies the complex world of crypto (custody, liquidity, settlement, compliance, off-chain optimization, etc.) and enables clients to deploy embedded blockchain solutions that evolve traditional finance systems to offer real-time money movement and lending capabilities. The platform enables the rapid development, integration and deployment of solutions that leverage crypto exchanges, DeFi protocols and aggregator services that bridge the gap between DeFi to TradFi.
“We are excited to partner with this uniquely qualified team on their mission to help businesses grow by being able to seamlessly connect to the evolving digital asset economy,”Green Visor Capital founder and managing partner Simon Yoo said.
“Cion Digital co-founders Snehal Fulzele, Fred Brothers and Arpit Agrawal have deep knowledge and experience in both traditional finance and the rapidly-growing blockchain and crypto sectors, as well as a track record of building successful fintech companies,” added Nnamdi Okike, co-founder and managing partner of 645 Ventures. “We are very impressed by the platform’s technological innovations that will enable traditional businesses to deploy and benefit from crypto-based payments solutions previously unavailable to them.”
“Established businesses are struggling to understand crypto and decide when and how to embrace it. It’s a significant challenge to quickly and effectively embed crypto in their legacy products and services,” said Brothers. “Without Cion Digital’s Blockchain Orchestration Platform, existing businesses can take months or years – and spend significant up-front investment – to gain knowledge, acquire resources, and begin delivering crypto solutions. Since the Crypto ecosystem is evolving so fast, without the right help and expertise it’s like trying to hit a moving target.”
“It has always been a passion of mine to be able to make financial services more inclusive,” said Fulzele. “Connecting traditional business to blockchain technology allows us to do this by creating a way for people with assets held outside of traditional banking relationships to grow their portfolios and borrow against those assets when they otherwise would be unable to.”
Cion Digital is currently working with leading fintech lenders, big ticket retailers, financial advisory firms and traditional financial institutions to deliver crypto financing and payment solutions, and to expand its offering to deliver DeFi-as-a-service to various traditional industry verticals such as payroll processors.
To meet demand, Cion Digital is planning an R&D Center to be based out of Pune, India. The firm is in the midst of a recruitment drive throughout India to add to the firm’s team of engineers — all of whom will be afforded the permanent ability to work-from-home.