Crossover Markets Secures $12 Million in Series A Funding led by Illuminate Financial and DRW Venture Capital

Crossover Markets, a digital asset technology firm, has announced it has raised $12 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Illuminate Financial and DRW Venture Capital, with participation from several strategic investors including Flow Traders, Laser Digital, Two Sigma, Wintermute, and retail brokers such as Exness, Gate.io, GMO, Pepperstone, Trademax and Think Markets.

The company, which focuses on institutional liquidity requirements in cryptocurrency markets, plans to use the funds to expand its role as an Electronic Communication Network (ECN) in digital assets and extend 24/7 trading capabilities to additional asset classes.

Brandon Mulvihill, Co-Founder and CEO, Crossover Markets

Brandon Mulvihill, Co-Founder and CEO of Crossover Markets, commented on the timing of the fundraise: "This fundraise comes at a time when institutional market structure is changing in digital assets. Prime brokerage and central clearing models are advancing, creating fungibility and exposing execution venues that hold clients captive. We are honored to welcome strategic shareholders who share our vision and passion to create the world's leading execution-only trading venue for digital assets. Illuminate brings enormous depth of knowledge across the institutional landscape, and DRW adds significant expertise as one of the largest, multi-asset market makers in the world."

Mark Beeston, Founder and Managing Partner, Illuminate Financial,

Mark Beeston, Founder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Financial, explained their investment rationale: "IIlluminate Financial has been building out a portfolio of institutional grade digital assets infrastructure companies since 2019 as part of our thesis around the convergence of traditional finance and digital asset market structure. Crossover adds best-in-class execution capability to that portfolio, serving both the immediate and long-term needs of financial institutions that wish to trade digital assets with a future-proof 24/7 low latency infrastructure that traditional markets are increasingly moving towards."

Kim Trautmann, Partner, DRW Venture Capital

"DRW VC has a proven track record of supporting early-stage companies committed to delivering market structure innovations both in the traditional and crypto markets," said Kim Trautmann, Partner at DRW Venture Capital. "Crossover Markets was a natural fit for our portfolio, and we're excited to support its experienced management team to deliver a best-in-class technology solution for digital asset trading that delivers superior execution while minimizing counterparty risk."

Crossover Markets also announced the addition of new board members: Mark Beeston from Illuminate Financial and Kevin Wolf, CFO at American Financial Exchange and former CEO of Euronext FX.

Mulvihill added, "Digital assets market structure is experiencing a pivotal change driven by institutional needs and activity. Simultaneously, we are witnessing the early-stage emergence of discussions around 24/7 trading across traditional asset classes. CROSSx is designed to be among the fastest, highest-performance venues in any asset class. More specifically, we developed the platform to bring 24/7 trading, price precision and size precision characteristics to traditional markets where technology is lagging in such areas. Bolstering governance and broadening corporate strategy to address the needs of clients in this evolving landscape were atop our agenda when thinking about Board expansion. Mark and Kevin bring a wealth of experience that spans equities, fixed income, FX, and digital. We are elated to add dynamic leadership by welcoming Mark and Kevin to Crossover."

The company's primary product, CROSSx, is as an execution-only ECN for digital assets. Crossover Markets recently reported over $3.15 billion (USD) in notional trading value, 415,450 trades, and over 141 billion quotes processed on CROSSx in Q1 2024. With the added funding, Crossover Markets will continue to invest in its team and technology, further strengthening its position in the market.