Elwood Technologies, the cryptocurrency company backed by billionaire fund manager Alan Howard, has received $70 million in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs and Dawn Capital.
British bank Barclays and Commerzbank's CommerzVentures also participated in the Series A round, along with Galaxy Digital Ventures, BlockFi Ventures, Flow Traders, Chimera Ventures and Digital Currency Group (CoinDesk's parent company).
London-based Elwood launched its first blockchain and crypto products in early 2019. Of the major Wall Street banks, Goldman is probably the leader in crypto; Barclays, which has become a thought leader in early permissioned blockchain experiments, is an interesting addition to Elwood's public crypto trading stable of backers.
"The diverse mix of investors participating in this capital raise validates the movement of financial institutions working closely with their homegrown digital asset technology providers," Elwood CEO James Stickland said in a statement.
Mathew McDermott, global head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, added in a statement, "As institutional demand for cryptocurrencies increases, we have been actively expanding our market presence and capabilities to meet client demand. Our investment in Elwood demonstrates our continued commitment to digital assets and we look forward to working together to expand our capabilities."