An Aussie-founded crypto platform set to disrupt pre-public equity markets has raised $2.1 million in its second funding round, ahead of its upcoming launch.

PrePO will let investors go long or short on synthetic versions of pre-IPO assets — traditional companies like SpaceX, Stripe, or Reddit, or pre-token crypto projects like MetaMask and OpenSea.

The strategic round was led by Republic Capital and IOSG Ventures, with participation from MEXC, AscendEX, Shima Capital, HoneyDAO, NeptuneDAO and GCR, as well as from Gnosis, 1inch, Moonbeam, Zapper, Gelato, BarnBridge, Immunefi, Thales and Dapp.com.

“We’re incredibly grateful to have such an all-star group of backers,” said prePO founder Xavier Ekkel.

“Their industry expertise, deep networks, funding, and long-term support, will be invaluable in accelerating the growth of prePO.”

PrePO last year raised US$1.1 million in a seed round with participation from The LAO, Maven 11, Apollo Capital, and founders from Illuvium, Alchemix, mStable, dHedge, and Zed Run.

PrePO tweeted that its token would launch “soon,” — and there’s bonus rewards for those who register for the whitelist.

PrePO’s first product will launch directly on the Ethereum scaling solution Arbitrum shortly thereafter.

PrePO didn’t give an exact date but indicated that the platform had finished its external audit, a key step.

‘A game changer’

PrePO is aiming its platform largely at smaller investors, who are largely shut out from investing in early-stage companies. Private market opportunities are often limited to the wealthy and well-connected, Ekkel notes.

“We believe prePO‘s approach to synthetic pre-public assets is a game-changer for those who have not been able to participate in the private markets before,” said Brian Johnson, head of crypto at Republic Capital.

“prePO‘s breakthrough design ensures that adequate liquidity exists for speculation and that liquidity providers are risk-limited and rewarded meaningfully,” said IOSG Ventures Principal Ray Xiao.

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