By
Chimamanda U. Martha
January 10th, 2024
The latest investment by Laser Digital will help Orderly Network expand its team by hiring for product and engineering functions.
Japanese banking giant Nomura has recently made an investment in Orderly Network’s token via its crypto subsidiary Laser Digital. Orderly Network is a DeFi protocol built atop the Near blockchain.
Nomura Invests in Orderly Network
Earlier this year, Orderly Network raised $20 million in a seed round from backers including Sequoia China, Dragonfly, Pantera Capital, and Jump Capital. The latest investment comes from Laser Digital, however, its size remains undisclosed.
Orderly Network co-founder Ran Yi said that the latest investment comes at a valuation of $200 million. This is the same valuation that the company pegged in the seed round. The recent fundraise for Orderly Capital comes through a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT). This is also the first publicly announced crypto investment from Nomura subsidiary Laser Capital.
It is just a month that Nomura set up its crypto investment subsidiary in September 2022. This also marks a rare foray into crypto investing by the Japanese banking giant. Speaking to The Block, Olivier Dang, head of ventures at Laser Digital, said:
“Orderly is one of our first investments given its unique position of having access to deep liquidity and an order book matching engine that can accommodate high throughput and rate limits”.
About Orderly Network
Orderly Network is a decentralized trading infrastructure platform wherein other projects can build their decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. The platform has been incubated by Woo Network and the Near Foundation.
WooFi, the decentralized exchange of Woo Network is completely based on Orderly’s infrastructure and liquidity. Orderly launched its mainnet last month. Yi said that the platform’s native token will launch soon.
Amid the fresh capital infusion, Orderly Capital will use it to increase its team size by the year-end. The platform plans to recruit 10 more members to its existing 40-member team. Arjun Arora, chief operating officer at Orderly Network said that the company plans to hire people for its product and engineering functions.
More Investments from Laser Digital
While the Nomura subsidiary has just begun, it plans to make more investments ahead. Laser Digital will be investing in around 20 crypto startups per year while backing their early-stage as well as Series A rounds.
As per a person familiar with the matter, the firm is particularly interested in crypto and DeFi infrastructure startups with a focus on serving business-to-business clients. Although Laser Digital’s current focus is venture capital, it plans to enter crypto trading very soon. They also plan to explore areas of crypto market making and crypto asset management in the future.
Nomura itself has also been an investor in the crypto space. In the past, Nomura has invested in crypto startups like Crypto Garage, Bullish, and Komainu. However, all these have been equity investments in these crypto firms. With Laser Digital, Nomura will be investing in both equity and token rounds of the crypto startups.