Australia-headquartered fintech infrastructure provider Openmarkets Group has announced that it plans to raise US$50 million to power its entry into decentralized finance (DeFi) and expand to overseas markets like Singapore, Hong Kong, and the US.
The firm offers application programming interfaces to financial institutions so they can, in turn, allow their clients to access Australian and international equity markets.
Openmarkets serves companies like Singapore-based digital wealth platform Syfe, giving the platform access to global equities. It also offers trading tools and portfolio management services to financial advisers and wealth managers, as well as handles trading for high-volume traders.
Its immediate plans for the funds will go into launching crypto trading, tokenizing real-world assets, and building a digital treasury to manage its holdings of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and other digital assets.
The treasury will be managed by third-party firms that may also make strategic investments in other Web3 companies, Openmarkets Group CEO Dan Jowett tells Tech in Asia.
Jowett explains that the initial priority will be to tokenize illiquid assets like private credit and equity funds.
Without an expansion into DeFi, “we might not even have a business in 10 years’ time,” Jowett notes.
The firm’s foray into the segment is a “medium to long-term play ” and will be introduced in phases, Jowett adds.
The company is in discussions with major liquidity providers, including HashKey, OKX, and Bitstamp, to secure the necessary liquidity for its crypto trading service.
This service, which is the most immediate step for Openmarkets right now, is set to launch by March or April of next year, Jowett says.
In the medium term, it plans to release its own stablecoin, which will act as a connecting point between DeFi and traditional finance. This allows user earnings from DeFi to be realized more quickly into traditional fiat currency.
It will also let the company accrue interest in its crypto holdings, creating a new revenue stream for Openmarkets and its shareholders, Jowett adds.
Opening its doors to Asia
The firm has received investor interest for its newest raise, though the CEO did not disclose names.
He says the company is seeking to raise from family offices and private wealth investors in Asia and the US and expects to complete its fundraise by the end of the year.
Why Asia? Jowett explains that there is a “larger, more active and interested investor base” in the region for the amount it is seeking.
He adds that in recent years, Australia has been “quite challenging to raise funds” in. It’s also difficult to find a traditional bank “that will support a DeFi or crypto world.”
The firm was also drawn to the robust regulatory frameworks in Singapore, Hong Kong, and other Southeast Asian markets.
Still, places like Singapore and Hong Kong are home to large companies in the space. These include Zilliqa and Coinbase in Singapore, as well as Bitfinex and Xverse in Hong Kong.
Openmarkets’ leg up? It’s regulated in Australia, which is typically seen as a “trusted and safe jurisdiction.”
“We think from a customer engagement in B2B, that’s a positive,” Jowett adds.
The company’s new direction follows its cancelled plan to go public in the US via a SPAC merger with Broad Capital Acquisition earlier this year.
Jowett confirmed that Openmarkets exercised its right to terminate the deal. “It didn’t really look like it was going to be the right transaction for us,” he says, though he kept mum on the reasons.
Instead, he emphasizes that the company is still aiming for a global listing in 2026, saying that the current US$50 million raise is a “pre-raise” to get there.