Point72 Ventures, through the funding round, will help GenTwo extend its offerings and also expand its international business.
Securitization specialist fintech GenTwo has raised $15 million in a recently concluded Series A funding round. The round was led by venture capital firm Point72 Ventures, founded by billionaire hedge fund manager and investor Steven Cohen. The billionaire owns a baseball team – the New York Mets.
GenTwo has a PRO platform that helps investors securitize and trade investment strategies or assets. This process is also open to non-bankable assets, including digital assets, real estate, or fine art. Following the funding round, Point72 Ventures senior partner and co-head of fintech investments Pete Casella has joined the board of directors at GenTwo.
GenTwo launched in 2018 and has established a large financial engineering network that now serves over 250 clients in 26 countries. The B2B company has launched more than 1,200 investment products and has over $3 billion in Assets under Service (AuS).
Speaking on the funding round, GenTwo co-founder and chairman Patrick Loepfe has stated that the company will use the funding to expand internationally. Loepfe added that the funding will help develop its financial engineering platform to expand its offerings and better serve clients. Loepfe also added:
“We have always been a strongly technology-focused company and have worked hard to create what we believe is a unique securitization platform that offers clients unmatched simplicity, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. With its experience in not only fintech but also AI, Point72 Ventures is the perfect partner to help us do even more.”
The GenTwo and Point72 Funding Round
GenTwo CEO and co-founder Philippe A. Naegeli described Point72 Ventures’ decision to lead the funding round as “highly gratifying.” Naegeli added that both companies see the same opportunity and that the venture capital believes in GenTwo’s ability to deliver.
Naegeli has added that GenTwo intends to use digital assets services to function as a middleman between decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional finance (TradFi). However, that may not happen anytime soon as the co-founder admits that the digital asset market, although with a lot of potential, is in recovery. Naegeli said:
“It really goes in waves, but right now alternative investment, private equity, takes a lot of our attention.”
Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures has taken part in several funding rounds over the years, backing multiple companies. Last year, the venture capital firm backed a Series B funding round for crypto data and analytics platform Messari, where the platform raised $35 million. Other participants were Morgan Creek Digital, Samsung Next, and FTX Ventures. Interestingly, Point72 Ventures was also part of Messari’s Series A funding round from August 2021.
In 2021, Point72 Ventures led a $35 million Series C funding round for digital assets infrastructure company Zero Hash.
Last year, Steve Cohen was reportedly planning to launch a crypto asset manager to trade spot cryptocurrencies. The plan is also for the asset manager to help fund crypto hedge funds and allow crypto derivatives trading. In the same year, Web3 community gaming platform AQUA also announced a $10 million investment from Cohen-backed investment firm DIGITAL.
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