Standard Chartered Participates in Jammed $18M Round for Crypto Custodian

Standard Chartered said it invested in Metaco to improve the relatively undeveloped market infrastructure in digital assets.

By Paddy Baker

Jul 15, 2020 at 7:22 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. UTC

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British bank Standard Chartered has invested in Metaco, a crypto custodian focused on the institutional market.

The Series A round was oversubscribed twice due to high demand; the 17 million Swiss franc ($18 million) raised will primarily go toward expansion to the U.S., Western Europe, and Southeast Asia, according to a press release.
Metaco's main product is SILO, which provides financial institutions with a cold storage and exchange service, as well as the ability to tokenize assets.
Alex Manson, Standard Chartered's head of ventures, said the company had invested in Metaco to improve the undeveloped market infrastructure surrounding digital assets.
Standard Chartered's revenue was $15.42 billion in 2019; it's unclear how much it invested into Metaco's round.
The round was led by Giesecke+Devrient, a Leipzig-based specialized printer in currency notes as well as, more recently, a manufacturer in smart cards.
Other participants included Zürcher Kantonalbank, the fourth largest bank in Switzerland, and Swiss Post, the country's postal service, which invested in a previous round in 2018.
Olivier Laplace, director at Swiss Post Ventures and member of Metaco's board, said the company's clientele had grown considerably over the past three years.

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