(Bloomberg) -- Crypto bank Sygnum AG raised 35 million Swiss francs ($41 million) to fund expansion and acquisition plans as the group looks at stepping up its presence in new geographies. 

The investment was led by asset manager Azimut Holding and comes at a valuation of about 725 million Swiss francs, similar to a previous round in January 2022, Gerald Goh, co-founder and chief executive officer of Sygnum Singapore, said in an interview. 

“We’re envisaging in this year to enter one more European jurisdiction as well as one more Asian jurisdiction,” said Goh, declining to provide further details before necessary approvals are in place. 

Crypto venture funding slumped after a 2022 rout in the digital-asset market and bankruptcies such as the collapse of the FTX exchange. Themes such as artificial intelligence grabbed the spotlight, overshadowing businesses built around blockchain technology. While the crypto industry began recovering last year, investment commitments remain subdued.

Sygnum — which runs a digital-asset bank in Switzerland and offers asset management and a crypto brokerage service in Singapore — is looking at the European market for acquiring companies that offer services similar to its existing activities, Goh said. 

“All of the opportunities that we have been presented with and are looking at are in activities that we currently perform,” he said referring to its acquisition plans.

In the past two years, Sygnum has doubled its client base to more than 1,700 and grown assets under management two fold to 3.7 billion Swiss francs through the end of 2023, according to provisional data from the company. The firm raised $90 million in January 2022, led by Sun Hung Kai & Co.

--With assistance from Hannah Miller.

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