Cion Digital raises $12m seed funding round

By Edlyn Cardoza

Cion Digital, developers of the SaaS blockchain orchestration platform, recently announced it has closed a $12 million Seed Capital raise.

The capital will be utilized to expand R&D resources and accelerate the rollout of crypto financing and payment solutions tailored for Financial Services companies (Lenders, RIA’s, Banks and Neobanks) and Big-Ticket Retailers (Auto, RV/Marine, Jewelry and Luxury Goods) and to expand the capabilities of the firm’s proprietary Blockchain Orchestration Platform for other industries.

Green Visor Capital and 645 Ventures led the round. Cota Capital, Epic Ventures, Hourglass Capital Partners, BAT Ventures, Greycroft and Ulu Ventures also participated.

While cryptocurrency adoption is increasingly becoming mainstream, traditional businesses and financial institutions reliant on legacy technology infrastructure still face significant challenges in adapting to the complexities of this fast-changing digital asset sector.

A pioneering innovation in the FinTech and blockchain space, Cion Digital’s integrated suite of applications and services provide companies with rapid access to all the connectivity, infrastructure and support needed to rapidly deploy blockchain-based real-time payments and financing. The platform’s blockchain interoperability simplifies the complex world of crypto (custody, liquidity, settlement, compliance, off-chain optimization, etc.), providing companies with a competitive edge and the ability to evolve their traditional finance offerings quickly and seamlessly — all while minimizing development costs, infrastructure complexity and time to market.

Commenting on the investment, Simon Yoo, Founder and Managing Partner of Green Visor Capital, said, “We are excited to partner with this uniquely qualified team on their mission to help businesses grow by being able to seamlessly connect to the evolving digital asset economy.”

“Cion Digital Co-Founders Snehal Fulzele, Fred Brothers and Arpit Agrawal have deep knowledge and experience in both traditional finance and the rapidly-growing blockchain and crypto sectors, as well as a track record of building successful FinTech companies,” said Nnamdi Okike, Co-Founder & Managing of Partner 645 Ventures. “We are very impressed by the platform’s technological innovations that will enable traditional businesses to deploy and benefit from crypto-based payments solutions previously unavailable to them.”

“Established businesses are struggling to understand crypto and decide when and how to embrace it. It’s a significant challenge to quickly and effectively embed crypto in their legacy products and services,” said Fred Brothers, Co-Founder and President of Cion Digital. “Without Cion Digital’s Blockchain Orchestration Platform, existing businesses can take months or years – and spend significant up-front investment – to gain knowledge, acquire resources, and begin delivering crypto solutions. Since the crypto ecosystem is evolving so fast, without the right help and expertise it’s like trying to hit a moving target.”

“It has always been a passion of mine to be able to make financial services more inclusive,” said Snehal Fulzele, Founder and CEO of Cion Digital. “Connecting traditional business to blockchain technology allows us to do this by creating a way for people with assets held outside of traditional banking relationships to grow their portfolios and borrow against those assets when they otherwise would be unable to.”

Cion Digital is currently working with leading FinTech Lenders, Big Ticket Retailers, Financial Advisory Firms, and traditional financial institutions across North America, Europe, and Australia to deliver crypto financing and payment solutions and expand its offering DeFi-as-a-service to various traditional industry verticals such as Payroll Processors.

To meet demand, Cion Digital is planning an R&D Center based out of Pune, India. The firm is amid a recruitment drive throughout India to add to the firm’s team of talented engineers — all of whom will be afforded the permanent ability to work from home.