Infrastructure startup Taurus raises $65 million in Series B

Swiss startup Taurus SA, focused on serving institutional clients in Europe, raised $65 million in a Series B round. The Block reports.

Credit Suisse led the round, the second-largest bank in Switzerland by assets. Among the investors were Germany’s largest financial conglomerate Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group, as well as Cedar Mundi Ventures — a Lebanese investment firm focused on new technologies.

Arab Bank Switzerland and Investis also joined the round, having previously participated in financing Taurus SA.

Credit Suisse’s investment portfolio also includes other crypto-related projects—Fnality, AlgoTrader and FundsDLT, according to the publication.

Representatives of the Swiss bank stressed that Taurus is “well positioned” in the context of custody solutions and tokenization services, helping financial institutions and their clients.

“We believe that distributed ledger technology can introduce new features into financial products that were previously impossible or very costly. When we talk with some of our clients, we see steady interest in the technology and its capabilities,” said Credit Suisse.

Taurus has been collaborating with the Swiss bank for the past two years. The companies have carried out several joint projects related to tokenization and the issuance of structured products.

Co-founder Sebastian Dessimos expressed confidence that the traditional financial system will become more connected with the digital asset space. His company serves more than 25 institutional clients and plans to open offices in Paris and Dubai in the coming months, with a view to exploring Southeast Asian and American markets in the longer term.

Among other plans, Taurus intends to increase its headcount from 60 to 100 by year-end.

In early 2020, the infrastructure startup closed a €10 million Series A round.

Earlier in January, the blockchain infrastructure provider QuickNode attracted $60 million. Investors valued the company at $800 million.