Siam Commercial Bank's venture arm, Digital Ventures, has become the first Thai financial institution to invest in a blockchain startup, backing Ripple's $55 million Series B funding round. \"Siam Comm
Siam Commercial Bank's venture arm, Digital Ventures, has become the first Thai financial institution to invest in a blockchain startup, backing Ripple's $55 million Series B funding round. "Siam Commercial Bank is excited to take a pioneering role in investing and piloting money transfers through Ripple's network," said Thana Thienachariya, chairman of Digital Ventures' executive committee. "Our participation makes SCB the first Thai commercial bank to move forward with remittance and other use cases with blockchain. Our due diligence was conducted by Digital Ventures, the investment and innovation arm of SCB, reaffirming our commitment to cultivating a solid fintech ecosystem for Thailand."
Joining SCB in this round were Japan's SBI Holdings, Standard Chartered, and Accenture Ventures. Also participating in the Series B were Santander Innoventures and the venture divisions of CME Group and Seagate Technology, along with Venture 51. Previous investors in Ripple include GV (Google Ventures), Andreessen Horowitz, IDG Capital Partners, and Jerry Yang's AME Cloud Ventures.
Ripple began expanding into Asian markets in January, when it announced a partnership with SBI Holdings to launch SBI Ripple Asia. The joint venture targets Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan, focusing on expanding Ripple's products and services throughout the region. SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said "distributed financial technology is already beginning to transform the financial system." "We're excited to help Ripple drive even broader adoption of its enterprise solutions in Asia and around the world," Kitao said. "Following the recent creation of our joint venture SBI Ripple Asia and in light of incredible customer growth, we are very pleased to increase our investment in Ripple."
SBI Holdings' asset management unit, SBI Investment, also backs Kraken, having led a multi-million dollar Series B round for the cryptocurrency exchange in February.
Ripple intends to use the new capital to expand its customer base, forge strategic partnerships, and grow its team across different regions. "Our mission is to make cross-border payments truly efficient for banks and their customers, and in doing so, lay the foundation for an Internet of Value where the world moves money as easily as information," said Chris Larsen, Ripple's CEO and co-founder. "We're thrilled to have these world-class investors joining forces with us to help make this vision a reality."
Banks across the globe face mounting pressure to modernize their operations. Standard Chartered's investment signals the bank's commitment to transformation. The bank's global head of transaction banking, Alex Manson, sees Ripple as a solution provider worth backing. "Ripple is one of the most advanced distributed financial technology companies in the industry with a tested and viable solution," Manson said. "Leveraging Ripple's deep expertise in technology, financial services and compliance, we can co-develop more use cases to better serve our clients and their ecosystems' needs in an evolving marketplace."
Richard Lumb heads Accenture's financial services group. He views blockchain technology as having applications well beyond the banking sector, with real-time reporting and fraud detection capabilities that could reshape multiple industries. The firm formed a partnership with Ripple to investigate new ways to help its clients leverage the technology.
The round brings Ripple's total fundraising to more than $93 million. The company's network spans 15 of the world's top 50 banks, another 10 engaged in commercial negotiations, and over 30 banks that have piloted its platform.
