Haruko expands to Southeast Asia, secures USD $6 million funding

Digital asset investment management platform Haruko has announced its expansion into Southeast Asia and a successful USD $6 million funding round. This move comes as the company addresses high demand from capital deployers seeking secure and regulated institutional platforms for digital assets.

The Series A funding round was co-led by White Star Capital’s Digital Asset Fund and MMC Ventures, bringing Haruko’s total venture capital funding to USD $16 million. The company, founded in 2021, has rapidly scaled its operations across North America and Europe, and counts over 50 major investment management institutions as clients.

Haruko’s CEO and co-founder Shamyl Malik emphasised the company’s commitment to building institutional-grade solutions for the future of the investment industry. “Haruko is laser-focused on building institutional-grade solutions for the future of the investment industry and providing a white-glove service to exceed our clients’ expectations consistently,” Malik stated.

Malik also noted the company’s strategy of prioritising user experience and in-house development over growth through acquisitions. “Despite having had several opportunities for growth through acquisition, we instead prioritised our seamless user experience, stayed true to our day one goal and built our market-leading solution entirely in-house. We never deviate from our mission of creating best-in-class technology, simplifying complexity for our clients and supporting their goal of revenue generation, be it through pure alpha creation or franchise building.”

The company, which has offices in London and Singapore, has gained significant traction among various market participants, including hedge funds, family offices, market makers, treasury teams, and prime brokerages. Haruko is lauded for its extensive functionality and coverage of centralised exchanges (CeFi), decentralised finance (DeFi), and over-the-counter (OTC) venues.

Adding to this, Shamyl Malik spoke about the company's future ambitions: “We’re looking forward to continuing our global expansion, investing in exceptionally talented team members to support us in our goal of building out an industry-leading, end-to-end solution for digital assets and the future of the finance industry. We will continue to invest singularly in this mission, ensuring the quality of our products and services is at the forefront of all our activity.”

The latest funding round underscores Haruko’s growth over the past two years and signals strong investor confidence in its ability to provide top-tier solutions for digital asset investors. Sep Alavi, General Partner at White Star Capital, expressed his optimism about Haruko’s role in the maturing digital asset space: "We invest in game-changing innovators and as the digital asset space continues to mature, Haruko is leading the way in ensuring institutions are equipped to embrace these new opportunities. We’re delighted to continue our partnership with Haruko and its experienced founders as they embark on the next phase of their strategic growth journey.”

Oliver Richards, General Partner at MMC Ventures, highlighted the necessity for sophisticated infrastructure in the growing digital asset landscape: “MMC is a research-led fund and we have been actively looking at the blockchain and digital assets space for more than five years. Over that time our conviction that institutional ownership of digital assets will increase, and with it, the need for sophisticated infrastructure has grown. It is clear that the post-trade part of the digital asset landscape which Haruko focuses on has been poorly served to date and we believe that Shamyl and team have the deep domain knowledge required to solve this problem.”

Haruko's solutions have earned accolades such as HFM’s Most Innovative Technology Firm and HedgeWeek’s Best New Solution Provider in 2023. The platform is used by a wide range of institutions, including hedge funds, market makers, OTC providers, prime brokers, exchanges, DeFi chains, and custodians.