Alethena launched a new product last year and reinforced its ranks with a prominent academic. The blockchain start-up is now shutting its doors after failing to find financial backers.
Zug-based Alethena tried out several different business models in its two years of operation: it began as a ratings agency of sorts for initial coin offerings, before shifting towards supporting small- and mid-sized companies with their financing needs.
As part of the latter effort, Alethena built so-called share dispensers, a kind of stock-based ATM for companies to issue tokenized shares in order to tap financing. Alethena CEO and co-founder Markus Hartmann won prominent finance professor Thorsten Hens for its board.
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Despite the efforts, Alethena said it will dissolve: its team isn't ideally set up to act on its technology-driven plans, which in turn hurt its efforts to raise funding. Potential investors were reluctant because the blockchain-based technology's breakthrough is some ways off.
Alethena said it had been heartened by Seba and Sygnum, crypto banks, winning Swiss licenses last fall – putting the marketability of Alethena’s product within reach. However, its dependence on commercial banks as custodians was a sticking point.
«Furthermore, due to the, still very technical handling of its product, Alethena does not achieve cost-covering sales at this point, rendering any financing efforts even more difficult,» the start-up said. As a result, it will discontinue as well as dissolve Equility AG, its company.
