Despite concerns and lack of regulations, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have managed to become popular investing assets. Recently, digital coins have started gaining mainstream acceptance from high-profile investors, tech giants, and masses alike.
However, in the sea of 1,500 and more cryptocurrencies, it is hard to tell which one of them is a good investment. And here’s where cryptocurrency index funds come into play. It works in the same way as regular index ones.
For the Internet definition, the Index is a way to track the performance of a group of related assets. According to Nasscom, a market index is a basket of assets available in the financial market, designed as a benchmark to evaluate a sector’s performance, often reflecting financial trends.
In the case of cryptocurrencies, the cryptocurrency index funds track cryptocurrency indexes. It is designed as a benchmark of the performance of the entire sector. Currently, there are platforms globally coming up with cryptocurrency indexes, and one such is Sweden’s Vinter.
Raised $3.4M
Vinter is a specialised index provider for crypto ETF issuers. Today, Stockholm-based crypto index announced that it has secured $3.4M funding led by Octopus Ventures.
Various investors, including Ricketts family office, D4 Ventures, Pfeffer Capital, and notable angels like Gokul Rajaram, Marc Powers, and David Chreng, joined the round. The funding follows the SEC’s authorisation of crypto ETFs back in October.
How the funding will be used?
The fund enables the Swedish company to provide ETF issuers access to regulated crypto index products. Further, the company is planning to build out its team of backend developers and technical data engineers.
Also, the company is planning to hire senior data analysts and scientists, who will join the existing team of quants that analyse risks and industry trends at Vinter.
Jacob Lindberg, CEO of Vinter, comments, “A year ago the industry was in its infancy, but with continued growth in the asset class, combined with interest from institutions, the market is maturing. We named Vinter as such because we founded the company during the crypto winter, but
today experience continued and rapid development. We focused on crypto since the beginning which has meant that as one of the first regulated providers, we’re able to build indexes that no one else can. This gives our partner ETP and ETF issuers that use them a competitive advantage. This round of funding means that we can grow even faster.”
Index provider in crypto assets
Founded by Håkan Holmberg, Jacob Lindberg, Marco Poblete, Vinter is an index provider in crypto assets that works with leading issuers in Europe to create crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs and ETFs).
Vinter says indexes are a crucial ingredient in ETFs and ETPs. The index dictates asset selection. Good indexes help issuers compete on innovation instead of fees.
The company collects digital asset data from hundreds of sources, transforming proprietary strategies into investable products. The Swedish company developed the first crypto indices in the Nordics and was approved by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
Investor
Based out of London and New York, Octopus Ventures is a multi-stage venture capital investor specialising in B2B software, health, money, deep tech, and consumer.
With £1.3B under management and investing over £200M a year, Octopus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture investors in Europe.
The company’s typical investment is from £1M for Seed to £10M for Series B. So far, the company has backed the likes of BoughtByMany, Cazoo, Depop, Elvie, WaveOptics, and many more.
Zihao Xu, Head of Fintech at Octopus Ventures, added “We see a huge appetite within crypto for professionalisation and integration into the existing institutional ecosystem, and Vinter is creating innovative products to make it easier and safer to execute on investment strategies in crypto assets. Jacob, Marco, and Håkan combine a special set of skills with incredible ambition that will put them at the forefront of institutionalising the crypto ETF sector, and help onboard the next trillion dollars.”
