Elwood Technologies, a crypto trading platform founded by the well-known British fund manager Alan Howard, announced it collected $70M in its Series A funding round led by many investment giants, including Goldman Sachs, an American investment bank.
Despite the falling crypto market, many banks and investment companies have been interested in funding crypto-based platforms. Elwood Technologies, an emerging crypto trading platform that was set to hold its funding round even before the crypto market crash, was received by the crypto institutions with open hands.
Elwood Technologies has proven itself to be an investment-worthy fintech startup. Elwood is mainly focused on providing crypto portfolio management solutions with its purpose-built infrastructure to provide deep liquidity and comprehensive market data to institutional investors.
According to Financial Times, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Dawn Capital, and Galaxy Digital were some of the participating institutions in the funding round. The platform was valued at around $500 million during the fundraising, which led these investors to fund its Series A funding round.
The huge investment of $70M showed that the market still believes in the potential of crypto platforms. The CEO of Elwood Technologies, James Stickland said that the success of this fundraising round was “another validation of the longevity of crypto.”
He says, “The rich mix of investors participating in this raise reaffirms the movement of financial institutions working closely with their native digital asset technology providers.”
In response to market anxiety about the continuous falling prices, He also said: “We’re getting investment from financial institutions that aren’t expecting to get massive returns in 15 minutes. They’re investing in the infrastructure, I think it’s a reassurance message.”
Goldman Sachs invests in Elwood
Surely, the biggest news from the Elwood technologies fundraising round was Goldman Sachs’ involvement. According to Cointelegraph’s writer, Jesse Coghlan who is also a Sydney-based crypto investor, this investment indicates the bank’s further expansion into the digital asset market.
The evidence comes from Goldman Sachs’ recent investment activities. In early May, the bank offered a first-ever Bitcoin loan to Coinbase. Furthermore, Goldman was also involved in digital assets and the Metaverse, calling them a trillion-dollar worth market.
In response to Goldman’s interest in crypto platforms, Mathew McDermott Goldman Sachs’ global head of digital assets said that the bank would continue to fund various crypto startups and projects to leverage its market presence and cater to its customers.
He said, “As institutional demand for cryptocurrency rises, we have been actively broadening our market presence and capabilities to cater for client demand. Our investment in Elwood demonstrates our continued commitment to digital assets and we look forward to partnering to expand our capabilities.”
The investment bank previously met with the FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried offering help with regulatory compliance and future funding rounds. As new crypto startups continue to rise, Goldman will remain on a constant lookout for investment opportunities.
Final words
Elwood Technologies drew a lot of attention following its fundraising round. According to CEO Stickland, the collected funds will be used for various projects “to provide broader mass market involvement” as the crypto platform transitions into a new phase.
Goldman hopes that this partnership will be a success for both parties as the investment bank tries its best to meet the market capabilities by participating in various funding projects committed to development in the digital market.
