Crypto wealth management firm Metalpha Technology has invested in NextGen Digital Venture to provide traditional capital with exposure to digital assets. Separately, China-based 3D computer vision technology developer Deptrum has closed a CICC Capital-backed Series B round at 200 million yuan ($28.1 million).
Crypto wealth manager Metalpha picks up stake in NextGen
Hong Kong-based crypto wealth management firm Metalpha Technology has invested in NextGen Digital Venture.
The investment strengthens an existing partnership that offers institutional investors compliant investment channels for exposure to digital assets.
The new investment enables Metalpha to provide NextGen Digital Venture with additional management support, said Metalpha in a statement on Monday.
The deal is built on an existing partnership between the two companies that saw them jointly launch the Next Generation Fund I, or the ‘NextGen Fund I’, in April 2023 to focus on the suite of products offered by the US digital currency asset manager Grayscale Investments.
Metalpha, through its wholly-owned subsidiary LSQ Capital, serves as the sub-investment manager of NextGen Fund I and plays a key role in the fund operations and decision-making.
The move to invest in NextGen Digital Venture makes Metalpha a shareholder of the firm, Metalpha confirmed to DealStreetAsia in an email, but it declined to disclose the financial details of the investment.
NextGen Digital Venture, which offers crypto-related investment services to traditional investors, was founded in 2023 by Jason Huang, who previously held positions at Blue Pool Capital, the family office of Alibaba Group co-founder Joseph Tsai, as well as venture capital (VC) firms Joy Capital and Qiming Venture Partners.
The NextGen Fund I invests both directly and indirectly through structured derivatives into Grayscale’s investment products. The vehicle had a target of raising $100 million, Metalpha’s president Adrian Wang told DealStreetAsia in April 2023.
3D computer vision startup Deptrum raises $28m Series B round
China-based 3D computer vision technology developer Deptrum has closed a Series B funding round at 200 million yuan ($28.1 million) from investors including CICC Capital to fund its business expansion.
Shenzhen-based Deptrum, which has applied its 3D vision solutions in areas like mobile payment, consumer electronics, and intelligent vehicles, raised the new round with the support of domestic investors such as V-Capital and Chongqing Kexing Venture Capital Management.
The new investment came after the six-year-old firm turned a profit in the fourth quarter of 2023, said Deptrum in an official statement.
Its biometric payment solutions support companies like Tencent, whose mobile payment service WeChat Pay in June 2023 introduced a new function that allows users to settle payments by scanning their palms. Deptrum has been a partner of WeChat Pay since 2021, providing the Chinese ubiquitous online payment service with its facial recognition technology.
The Series B round brings its total financing to 500 million yuan ($70.3 million), said Deptrum.
In its Series A round in 2019, the firm raised $15 million from two lead investors SoftBank China Venture Capital and Wu Capital, the family office of Chinese real estate developer Longfor Properties’ billionaire co-founder Wu Yajun. The earlier deal was followed by two Series A extension rounds in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Deptrum completed its angel round and Series pre-A round at a total of “a few million US dollars” in the year of its inception in 2018.