HSBC Bank Invests in Blockchain Startup Axoni
The bank’s backing raises the total of Axoni Series B funding to $36 million.
British global bank HSBC has invested $4 million into the New York-based blockchain startup Axoni with the aim to analyze how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can modernize capital markets infrastructure, Axoni said in a press release on Tuesday. HSBC is the latest investor in the startup’s Series B funding round, and it raises the fresh money from $32 million to $36 million.
Axoni will use the funding to upgrade its data synchronization technology and to expand its DLT-based system, called AxCore. The firm will also invest in AxLang, an Ethereum-compatible smart contracting language for enabling formal verification.
HSBC funding is not the first bank’s partnership with Axoni as the companies have worked together in analyzing how DLT-driven data synchronization solutions can be implemented in existing financial infrastructure including in automation, auditability, and accessibility. According to Matthew J. Flanigan, the chief operating officer (COO) of HSBC Global Banking and Markets for the Americas, blockchain can increase efficiency and lower costs.
Axoni has raised nearly $60 million since the beginning of the year. In August, the startup conducted the first part of its Series B funding round led by US bank Goldman Sachs. NYCA Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Citi, Coatue Management, Digital Currency Group, F-Prime Capital, Franklin Templeton Investments, J.P. Morgan, NEX Group, Wells Fargo, and Y Combinator also backed the startup.
Axoni’s main product is AxCore, which enables the development of decentralized applications (dApps).
“Once a blockchain network has been established, distributed applications can be deployed by using smart contracts to encode data, calculations, and event-driven activity on the blockchain.”
Currently, Axoni is working with the US post-trade financial services provider Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) for moving DTCC Trade Information Warehouse to a blockchain-based system.