Portofino Technologies, a Zug, Switzerland-based firm active in software development, distribution, and licensing, announced that it has come out of stealth and raised over $50M in equity funding from Valar Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and Coatue.
The company will use the funds to power digital asset adoption for institutional investors and Web3 companies.
Trading-grade technology
Founded by two former Citadel Securities leaders, Leonard Lancia and Alex Casimo, Portofino is building high-frequency trading-grade technology for digital assets.
The company’s mission is to scale its technology across the full crypto infrastructure value chain.
Leonard Lancia, CEO and Founder at Portofino says, “Having worked at the forefront of the modernisation of traditional markets, we believe that our liquidity provisioning infrastructure can deliver enormous benefits to digital asset participants globally and drive the next leg of adoption. However, this is only the start for Portofino. In Web3, every action is a transaction, and we’re building the underlying technology that will enable entirely new services and industries in the future”.
The platform provides liquidity on the largest centralised and decentralised cryptocurrency exchanges and services to institutions and Web3 projects requiring digital asset liquidity.
Over the past year, the Swiss company has traded billions of dollars across centralised and decentralised cryptocurrency venues and hired a team of 35+ HFT specialists globally.
Alex Casimo, COO and Founder at Portofino, says, “Only the firms with market-leading technology can realise the enormous opportunities available in the growing Web3 ecosystem. That’s why we decided to build Portofino as a tech company, not a trading firm. We’re thrilled to be working with some of the world’s leading investors and our stellar team on this journey.”
James Fitzgerald, Founding Partner at Valar Ventures, says, “As the digital assets market continues to grow rapidly in size and complexity, Portofino’s proprietary technology, which enables the frictionless transfer of digital assets, will become more and more important for institutional and retail participants in the space. We have been impressed by Leo and Alex’s ability to execute and how they have managed the stormy waters in the crypto market over the past months.”
Oliver Samwer, Founder at Global Founders Capital, says, “We’re excited about the potential of Portofino. You rarely find a founding team with fantastic expertise to solve the problems that digital asset market participants face today. We are convinced this is the right team to help facilitate the next leg of institutional and retail participation in this market.”
