The French crypto market maker Flowdesk has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Cathay Ledger and Ripple.
The cryptographic company, which recently contributed to the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs by providing liquidity to Grayscale, can now boast a market valuation of $250 million.
With the new capital available, Flowdesk aims to expand to Singapore and the United States, while simultaneously seeking to obtain regulatory licenses compliant with the regulations of these United States.
Among the plans of the crypto intermediary, there is also the one to hire another 50 people to strengthen its staff.
Let’s see all the details below.
Summary
Flowdesk raises an additional $50 million in funding from Ripple and Cathay Innovation fund: the valuation of the crypto company increases
Flowdesk, a market maker operating in the crypto market, concluded yesterday a series B funding round led by Cathay Ledger and Ripple, with participation from Eurazeo, ISAI, Speedinvest, Ripple, and the French investment bank Bpifrance, raising a total of 50 million dollars.
Overall, the evaluation of the company, which offers a multichain market making platform and collaborates with over 120 CEX and DEX, has now reached 250 million dollars.
The latest round of series B of Flowdesk comes two and a half years after the same liquidity provider for the crypto market had raised $30 million in a series A round in June 2022.
The funding from Cathay and Ripple has raised Flowdesk’s valuation to over $250 million from $100 million in 2022: this is an excellent result, especially considering the recent flat period in the crypto sector in the context of the role of market makers.
In June 2023, for example, in the midst of the general market recovery, two major market makers like Jane Street and Jump Crypto have decided to reduce their trading activities in the United States due to the difficulty in attracting new liquidity.
The Ledger Cathay fund, established in 2022 through the collaboration of Cathay Capital and Ledger, played a key role in the fundraising of Flowdesk.
As part of the agreements reached with Cathay, Ripple, and other companies, acky Abitbol, Managing Partner at Cathay Innovation, has joined the board of directors of Flowdesk.
Guilhem Chaumont, co-founder and CEO of Flowdesk, noted that the round went “very well” despite the difficult market conditions and the slowdown in crypto venture capital funding last year.
These are his words published in the company blog:
“This increase highlights the importance of Flowdesk as an emerging industry standard for market making and over-the-counter (OTC) services, offering sustainable and compliant liquidity solutions for token issuers and institutions.”
In a landscape characterized by regulatory uncertainties, volatility, and multiple setbacks at the sector level, liquidity has remained scarce. Flowdesk’s complete suite of services aims to revolutionize this landscape, offering scalable, risk-appropriate, and capital-efficient solutions.
We remind you that Flowdesk recently acted as a liquidity provider for the Bitcoin spot ETF of Grayscale, as well as a market maker for Societe Generale’s (GLE) euro-based stablecoin, EUR CoinVertible (EURCV).
The sustained growth of market maker Flowdesk in recent years
Even before raising funds from the Cathay Ledger fund and Ripple, the French company Flowdesk was already recording excellent numbers in the crypto market maker industry.
The company has also seen a strong increase in trading volumes and its cash flows with the recent recovery of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
As highlighted by Flowdesk CEO Chaumont, from January 2024 onwards the liquidity provider has witnessed a threefold increase in revenues compared to last year, with volumes increasing tenfold.
The same did not comment on specific figures but stated that his company trades from 150 to 400 million dollars per day on spot markets, supporting around 130 different tokens.
Now, after various Bitcoin spot ETFs have been approved on American soil, it is likely that Flowdesk will witness a further phase of growth for its balance sheets, considering the debut of such investment vehicles.
In just a few days, funds from BlackRock, Grayscale, Fidelity, Ark, and others have reached trading volumes of over 11 billion dollars, with strong inflows of money into the crypto markets.
As for the insured capital in the series B round, Flowdesk said it plans to use it to expand its business on a global level, further embracing the markets of Singapore and the United States.
The company is planning to obtain the necessary licenses to operate in full compliance with international regulations and is adapting to what has been approved in the Mica regulation of the European Union.
As reminded by Chaumont, Flowdesk is currently registered only in France and will have to make a great effort to expand itself in full legality and transparency.
Part of the funding will also be used to hire another 50 people within their own team, with a projected 50% increase in staff.
Recently Flowdesk has hired Charles Tighe as Chief Financial Officer and has recruited several executives from the now-closed Genesis Global Trading, including Reed Werbitt, Hanson Birringer, Greg Guttas, and Warren Wynn.
