Successful Seed-Financing for FinTech Cadeia

For the development of a digital platform for complex financial products, Cadeia was able to raise a seven-figure sum in a first round of financing.

November 3, 2021 — B2B FinTech startup Cadeia, based in Munich and Berlin, was able to raise a seven-figure sum in a first round of financing for the development of a digital capital markets platform, enabling more efficient structuring, issuing and settlement of complex financial products. In addition to blockchain pioneer Bank Frick from Liechtenstein, German early-stage blockchain investors Blockrocket and coinIX, as well as other private and institutional backers from the DACH region formed part of the seed financing round.

Author: Constantin Ketz, Co-Founder (c.ketz@cadeia.co)

With its Digital Services Platform (DSP), Cadeia offers a holistic and innovative solution for issuers as well as investors of complex financial products, including banks, asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds.

Issuers gain the opportunity to manage the entire lifecycle of complex financial products - from structuring, issuance and distribution to servicing and reporting as well as final settlement - securely and cost-efficiently on a single platform. For this, they benefit from a proprietary and blockchain-agnostic Smart Contract Engine (SCE), which allows for the issuance and transfer of complex financial products on a blockchain (in form of digital securities) as well as for the automated and rule-based distribution of the associated cash-flows through smart contracts.

Investors, on the other hand, benefit not only from increased transparency and higher execution speed, but also from lower transaction costs. The provision of real-time information on the financial products issued through the platform guarantee increased data quality and enhanced data analytics. In addition, automatically generated audit trails as well as compliance proofs offer both, investors just like issuers, increased regulatory security.

With the vision of a scalable and integrated B2B capital markets platform based on efficient distributed ledger technology, the founding team around the two managing directors, Patrick Hartl and Rolf Steffens, was able to convince an exclusive group of seed investors lead by Bank Frick, Blockrocket and coinIX.

The freshly raised capital will be used mainly for the technical development of the digital capital markets platform as well as for the expansion of the Berlin office, which serves as the company’s tech hub. Moreover, the platform’s functional focus on asset securitization (ABS, MBS, etc.) will be extended to incorporate additional financial products (e.g. loan syndication, bond issuance) for internal testing purposes in the coming months for.

A first ABS transaction, running completely on a public blockchain and providing a fully automated and rule-based distribution of cash-flows, is already in preparation with a private bank from the DACH region.

Patrick Hartl (Managing Director, Cadeia) is excited about the diverse and at the same time complementary circle of investors: “I am convinced that we were able to put together a strong and driven team of business angels and institutional investors that will support Cadeia not only with capital, but also with great know-how and a strong network of customers and partners.”

Melanie Mündle (CFO, Bank Frick) is very pleased about the achievement of the first milestone on Cadeia’s way to becoming the leading digital securitization platform: “We are twice as happy about this milestone: on the one hand, because Cadeia’s vision is getting closer to becoming a reality, and on the other hand, because Cadeia’s platform radically simplifies the administration of the entire lifecycle of securitization transactions for all market participants.”

Benjamin Horvath (Managing Director, Blockrocket) emphasizes the high importance of the product transparency achieved by Cadeia for the market as well as for the business model itself: “Cadeia offers not only significant cost benefits to issuers of financial products, but also provides investors with unprecedented transparency into the quality of those products - not just once at issuance, but dynamically throughout the lifecycle of the products. We are confident that Cadeia’s solution will set an industry standard and look forward to supporting the team on its journey.”

Susanne Fromm (CEO, coinIX) finally highlights the big importance of distributed ledger technologies for the development of the traditional financial sector: “Blockchain-based processes in the traditional financial services sector are some of the areas we see substantial growth potential, already in the short team. Cadeia is active at exactly this intersection, helps to connect both worlds and enables the next level of digitization.”

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About Bank Frick

Bank Frick (www.bankfrick.li) specializes in banking for intermediaries. The Liechtenstein bank provides a fully integrated offering of classic banking and blockchain banking services. Its clients include in particular fintechs, asset managers, payment service providers, family offices, fund promoters, pension funds and fiduciaries. Bank Frick has been family-run since its foundation in 1998 and adopts an entrepreneurial approach. The Bank employs over 160 members of staff at its Balzers office and operates a branch in London, UK.

About Blockrocket

Blockrocket (www.blockrocket.io) is an accelerator and investor in early-stage blockchain startups. We are based in Germany but invest in equity deals globally — with ticket sizes ranging from € 100–500k. Together with our venture capital partner, the Blockchain Founders Group (www.blockchain-founders.io), we specialize on pre-product-market fit business models in the blockchain space.

About coinIX

The coinIX GmbH & Co. KGaA (www.coinix.capital) was founded in Hamburg in 2017 as an investment company to build up expertise in the area of blockchain technology and crypto currencies as well as in the analysis, acquisition and management of digital assets and to make investments in this sector. The coinIX team consists of specialists with many years of experience in asset management, venture capital and in the analysis of new technologies. coinIX invests via equity participations or by taking positions in virtual currencies, including SAFTs. Currently, the company has made more than 40 investments. The company’s shares are listed in the open market of the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange (ISIN DE000A2LQ1G5).

About Cadeia

Cadeia (www.cadeia.co) is a financial technology company with the vision to make global capital market transactions and financial products more secure and efficient for both, issuers and investors. Based on novel distributed ledger technologies, Cadeia develops and operates a digital platform for the efficient structuring, issuance and settlement of complex financial products (e.g. asset-backed securities, syndicated loans, or bonds) as well as the automated and rule-based distribution of the related cash flows. The offering aims at banks, asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds, among others.