Fasset digital asset crypto exchange raises 22 million USD
Middle East family offices also participated in investment round
Malaysian regulated Fasset digital asset and crypto exchange which had been seeking a license in Bahrain previously, has closed a USD 22 million Series A funding round, led by Liberty City Ventures and Fatima Gobi Ventures, with participation from Soma Capital, MyAsiaVC and others. Prominent institutional investors include regional family offices from the Middle East and South Asia. Between them, the aforementioned VC firms have backed over 45 unicorns, with investments in leading Fintech projects that include Animoca Brands, Airlift, Bolt, Consensys, Figment and Lukka.
Funding will be channeled toward new product development and market expansion. The team has been in advanced discussions with several regulatory authorities and will imminently be launching services in Indonesia and Pakistan. In Indonesia, Fasset is set to be granted an approval to operate as a full service cryptocurrency exchange next month while in Pakistan, Fasset is set to soon offer digital asset services. Fasset has also recently secured an EU authorization; this latest milestone will allow Fasset to connect the remittance corridors of the global diaspora to their home markets.
The team has ambitions to attract world class talent and double their headcount by the end of the calendar year – several notable crypto executives have already joined Fasset in 2022. Upcoming milestones in the product roadmap include the launch of the ‘Fasset Artist Lab’ — an NFT marketplace for MENASA-based artists and athletes.
Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fasset, said, “Fasset is all about bringing multi-faceted digital asset use cases that connect home markets to their diaspora. We’re extremely passionate about financial inclusion and democratizing access to opportunity by enabling a new wave of digital asset owners in our target emerging markets. Asset ownership is the strongest way to power healthy livelihoods and economies. Digital asset-driven remittance corridors can unleash a new wave of socioeconomic prosperity through unique product offerings that we’re diligently building. We are excited to work with regulators to enable this flow of capital, products and opportunity in our markets.”
Emil Woods, Managing Partner at Liberty City Ventures shared, “We believe that digital assets are increasingly crossing over to the mainstream, and have massive potential to disrupt legacy businesses and markets, especially in the emerging markets. We are eager to partner with the team at Fasset to capture the opportunities presented, and to shape the future of finance.”
Ali Mukhtar, General Partner at Fatima Gobi Ventures shared, “Fasset’s vision of empowering the next billion to access digital assets aligns closely with our investment philosophy for the space. We are proud to support Fasset in democratising access to this nascent asset class and look forward to helping propel the company forward in its target markets of growth.”
“We think Fasset is uniquely positioned to onboard the next billion people to the cryptocurrency ecosystem in frontier markets” said Willem van den Bosch, Investor at Soma Capital. “Their customer obsession is exemplified in their focus on fixing ‘what is broken’ with existing solutions. We believe the team has a unique combination of regulatory and compliance expertise, product superiority, and the technical knowledge to own the fiat to crypto layer across retail and institutional clients in target markets.”
