Copenhagen-based Januar, an infrastructure provider for cryptocurrency businesses, announced on Thursday that it has raised €6M in its Seed round of funding to become the compliant crypto gate for European businesses.
The company claims this is the largest Seed round recorded in Denmark.
Investors in this round
The round was led by venture capital firm Element Ventures. Angular Ventures, Outward VC, and early pre-Seed backers byFounders also participated in the round.
Kevin Chong, co-Head of Outward VC, says, “Building financial infrastructure for the crypto economy that is fit for purpose is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Januar’s mission of bringing trust and transparency to innovative digital assets and Web3 businesses resonated strongly with us and we are delighted to support the mission.”
The round also includes well-renowned angel investors, including Nicolas Julia, co-founder and CEO of Sorare; Charlie Songhurst, former Head of Strategy at Microsoft; Pierre-Antoine Pierre, CEO and Founder of IBanFirst; Jørgen Horwitz, former Director of Finansrådet; and Einar Braathen from CoinFund.
Capital utilisation
Januar says the funds will help the company to become the leading one-stop crypto gate for European businesses, serving the growing crypto and digital asset industry with a market cap of $2T. The company is on a mission to support a more open and collaborative financial system based on decentralised technology by offering fiat-to-crypto rails as a service.
According to Januar, Digital assets and decentralised transaction systems are faster, better, and cheaper, and it is changing the way value moves between people and businesses globally. Europe, at the moment, is a suppressed and underserved market. In the US market, crypto banks such as Silvergate and Anchorage are forging ahead.
Simon Ousager, CEO and co-founder of Januar, says, “We are proud to enable innovative fintech entrepreneurs to run and grow their digital asset business by providing the financial infrastructure they need to build the financial system of tomorrow.”
“Compliant crypto gate for European businesses”
Businesses operating within the digital asset space have had a difficult time getting one of the most fundamental assets to business operation: a bank account. Januar is not a bank but solves this problem by offering local IBAN business accounts to crypto businesses in Europe. It does this through its Payment Service Provider Licence with the Danish FSA, including crypto-specific risk, compliance, and AML policies.
Founded in 2021 by Andreas Keinicke Gustavsen, Mikael Buch Smedegaard, and Simon Ousager, Januar aims to bridge the gap between the traditional centralised financial system and the new decentralised financial system.
Simon Ousager says, “Traditional banks are not ready for what is happening in the crypto markets right now. For many years they focused on the ‘technology’ while writing off the actual category of innovative digital assets – their ‘Blockchain not Bitcoin’ strategy did not align with the market. And while the value and usage of assets, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, multiplied many times over, the dismissive approach of most banks left them with little insights into crypto-specific compliance measurements and an inability to properly serve and support the industry. With Januar, we are here to close that gap now by providing financial services to crypto businesses and crypto services to financial institutions.”
“We are building financial infrastructure that will help crypto companies gain the stable foundation they need to innovate and serve their customers with peace of mind,” adds Ousager.
