Kraken, a popular bitcoin and crypto exchange company, today announced it is supporting the launch of a new independent initiative called Kraken Ventures to actively invest in crypto and fintech startups.
With an operational presence in Austin, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, New York, and San Francisco, Kraken Ventures aims to provide the resources and expertise to developers and respective technologies.
The breadth of projects Kraken Ventures will assist includes fintech, crypto protocols, DeFi as well as enabling techs such as AI, Machine & Deep Learning, RegTech, and cybersecurity.
Portfolio companies will receive investments that range between $250K – $3M, access to a team with decades of experience in the cryptocurrency and fintech industries as well as access to the resources and environment essential to success.
Team
The Kraken Ventures team will be led by Brandon Gath, Kirill Gourov, and Akshi Federici; three veterans of the fintech and cryptocurrency industries, and, most recently, senior leaders at Kraken.
Brandon has 20 years of experience in the financial services and crypto industries. For the last three years, he served as Head of Corporate Development at Kraken. Prior to that, he led investments in Orbital Insight, Crosslend, Digital Currency Group, Nervana Systems, Crypto Facilities, Privitar, and Fortscale while with CME Ventures. Brandon will utilize his expansive knowledge and the expertise of his team to continually help companies work toward achieving their goals.
“We will take a hands-on approach with our portfolio companies to provide guidance, new commercial opportunities, and additional capital support,” Brandon said. “The possibility to leverage Kraken’s experience building a truly global, scalable platform enables us to support our portfolio companies from inception to market leadership.”
Kirill most recently worked to support strategic investment for Kraken after previously managing blockchain investments for multi-family offices based in New York as well as leading blockchain strategy efforts at Expand Research, a subsidiary of The Boston Consulting Group.
Akshi Federici is seasoned with over 15 years of experience in the financial services and cryptocurrencies industries with The Boston Consulting Group, BlackRock, Conde Nast, ConsenSys, and Kraken.
To find out more about Kraken Ventures or submit an application, visit KrakenVentures.com.