A Hong Kong company behind a platform to secure multimillion-dollar NFTs with bank-grade security has plans to expand globally, after raising US$88 million in a Series B round led by formerly ASX-listed Animoca Brands and Liberty City Ventures,

Fully licensed in Hong Kong and Singapore, Hex Trust has over 200 institutional clients and over US$5 billion in assets under custody and over 100 employees across offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam.

It has built Hex Safe, which it describes as an institution-grade custody and compliance solution for managing and securing NFTs and other digital assets.

The funding round, which includes US$61 million of primary capital and US$27 million from secondary investors, will be used to scale to Europe and the Middle East, obtain additional licenses and add new business services such as financing.

A huge list of other funding round participants included included Ripple, Terra, Morgan Creek, Primavera Venture Partners, LeadBlock Partners, Eterna Capital, Sino Global Capital, Topaz, Hong Kong real estate developer Adrian Cheng, BlockFi, CoinList, Protocol Labs, Pulsar Trading, Wintermute, QBN Capital, Kenetic Capital, HashKey Capital, Fenbushi Capital, Radiant Ventures and Cell Rising.

“It was a tremendous year of growth for Hex Trust and this funding round enables us to continue scaling and become a global leader in digital asset custody,” said Alessio Quaglini, chief executive and co-founder of Hex Trust.

“As large institutions continue adopting digital assets at an increased pace, they need fully licensed custody services to meet compliance and regulatory standards.

“Our mission at Hex Trust remains the same: to stay ahead of the curve in terms of licensing and compliance, integrating the latest developments such as new protocols, DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, and the metaverse, and providing innovative services and financing solutions to enable our clients to monetise digital assets held in custody with us.” 

‘Impressive business growth’

“We’re delighted to have co-led this funding round to propel Hex Trust to further growth,” said Animoca Brands executive chairman and co-founder Yat Siu.

“Since our initial investment only 7 months ago, it’s been exciting to see their impressive business traction and their technology platform go from strength to strength. We believe Hex Trust is well-positioned to capture the growth in NFTs, GameFi and the metaverse, and we are here to  support them at every step of their journey.”

“Hex Trust has consistently demonstrated its excellence in providing bank-grade, secure, and innovative custody solutions,” said Murtaza Akbar, managing partner of Liberty City Ventures.

“As the industry evolves with the proliferation of new digital asset classes in the metaverse, GameFi and NFTs, we see Hex Trust able to truly thrive with their impressive technology, top-tier clients, and industry-leading partnerships.”

“We are excited and  proud to be working with Alessio and his stellar team to innovate the next generation of fully  licensed custody solutions.”