Old Street Digital (OSD) recently revealed that it has finalized a $2.8 million seed round that has reportedly been led by Draper Associates.
OSD is focused on developing an institutional fund manager bringing the very best of active, fundamental research-driven portfolio management to crypto-assets.
The investment round includes contributions from Plassa Capital and major venture capital and angel investors across Europe, Asia as well as the US (and also senior executives from the UK asset management sector).
Paul Ridley, CEO at Old Street Digital stated:
“There is enormous opportunity for institutional investors in digital assets but they need a credible product offering from experienced professionals they can trust. We’re building a crypto asset manager to fill this gap with a range of actively-managed funds in an accessible fund structure.”
Old Street Digital’s first fund is expected to go live this quarter and the company is expecting to open another in Q4 of this year.
CIO Gary Clarke is notably one of Europe’s prominent equity portfolio managers.
An active investor for around 27 years, Clarke has also held key senior roles at major fund managers such as working as Head of Global Equities at Blackrock where he helped with managing $31 billion in customer assets, Head of European Equities at Schroders and Head of Thematic Investing at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Clarke added:
“It’s humbling to be supported by investors who understand institutional fund management at the highest level and are backing us to deliver in crypto. Over the last 27 years I have managed money for many of the largest and most demanding institutional clients in the world. We intend to bring those lessons and disciplines, and align them with new technology and talent.”
Tim Draper, Founding Partner, Draper Associates, said:
“Old Street Digital’s unique approach applies traditional fund-management expertise to the world of crypto. The Old Street Digital team is well-positioned to provide access to a range of research-backed, crypto-based investment funds, and we at Draper Associates are excited to support them.”
Nic Basson, Chief Operations Officer at OSD, commented:
“In any new and complex asset class, top-tier technology, security and systems are keu. Delivering crypto asset exposure in a familiar fund structure is not without its challenges but the platform we are building offers an institutional-grade option for professional investors.”
