American Express Ventures invests in FalconX crypto platform

By Robin Amlot

FalconX, an all-in-one platform for institutions trading cryptocurrency, has announced an investment from American Express Ventures, which joins existing investors Accel, Accomplice VC, Coinbase Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Avon Ventures, a venture capital fund affiliated with FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, adding to the $17 million in funding FalconX announced back in May 2020.

Trading as principal, FalconX provides institutional clients the ability to access cryptocurrency markets through a single platform for trading, credit, and clearing. Today’s cryptocurrency infrastructure is inefficient for financial institutions – relying on a complex combination of liquidity sources across different markets. FalconX has built a connecting tissue to provide institutional clients with value-added solutions and superior customer service through a single, fully integrated platform.

FalconX has experienced revenue growth of 350% since completing its last funding round. The company serves 250 institutional clients, up 150% from May 2020, and its transaction volumes have tripled to around $3 billion on a monthly basis, making it one of the largest full-service providers. In addition, the company’s new product line, FalconX Credit, which enables clients to extend settlement, is experiencing notable organic growth reaching over $1 billion in credit transactions during November 2020.

“We’re seeing growing interest from traditional asset managers who are adding cryptocurrencies as an inflationary hedge, catalysed by recent macro-economic policies,” said Raghu Yarlagadda, FalconX CEO and co-founder. “It is a great pleasure to welcome American Express Ventures as we continue to invest in expanding FalconX’s product offering.”

“FalconX is helping bring simplicity to the increasingly complex digital asset space through a platform that provides discovery and pricing all in one place,” said Harshul Sanghi, Global Head of Amex Ventures. “Amex Ventures invests in startups as a way to better understand emerging areas of the payments ecosystem, and we are pleased to support FalconX as it continues to drive innovation in the digital asset space, including digital currencies.”