The Swiss digital asset broker wrapped up a nearly $50 million fundraising round. It issues new shares to outside investors for the first time – and aims for a $1 billion valuation.

Zug-based Bitcoin Suisse concluded a 45 million Swiss franc ($49 million) round of fundraising with private investors, strategic business partners, and clients, it said in a statement on Friday. Former Vontobel investment banker Roger Studer emerged in May as a major backer.

The move values Bitcoin Suisse, which is in the process of applying for a banking license, at north of 300 million francs. The financing round included more than 16 percent of shares in its holding, of which more than 6 percent were treasury stock and one-tenth was newly-issued.

Token Offering, Then IPO

The funding «provides us with the necessary capital base, resources and strength to continue pioneering the digital asset sector as it develops towards an institutional scale industry,» co-CEO Arthur Vayloyan said in a statement. It leads to Bitcoin Suisse's next phase: a security token offering, or STO, and a public stock listing, he noted.

«Seven years after founding our company, we are firmly on track to become the first European unicorn in the digital asset industry,» co-CEO Niklas Nikolajsen said, referring to a valuation of at least $1 billion. 

Pandemic Boom?

The move comes as industry peers in Switzerland like Seba, Sygnum, and Crypto Finance AG also hunt for fresh money to see them through their next growth phase. With Studer, who until last year ran Vontobel's investment bank, Bitcoin Suisse added more banking expertise.

The broker didn't disclose any first-half figures, but will have benefited from the same pandemic trading boom that lifted big wealth managers like Julius Baer and Credit Suisse. It continued to hire staff at the peak of the crisis in Europe, as finews.com reported in March.

Poaching From Big-Four

Separately, Bitcoin Suisse said it is poaching Markus Perdrizat from PwC in Switzerland, where he is head of blockchain risk assurance practice. Perdrizat, a former UBS banker, will become Bitcoin Suisse's head of custody as well as of Swiss Crypto Vault AG, effective in August.

The current head, Philipp Vonmoos, will move to a corporate strategy role in view of its planned IPO. He remains in Bitcoin Suisse's management, which is run jointly by Vayloyan, an ex-Credit Suisse top executive, and by founder Nikolajsenas well as join Crypto Vault's board.