Singapore-based fintech company Rate has raised $15 million in a token offering through its blockchain project Rate3 from investors including Matrix Partners China and Fenbushi Capital founder Bo Shen.
The token sale was also joined by crypto-focused VC firms Node Capital, Kenetic, FBG Capital and Signum Capital. Proceeds will be used for technical product development and expansion to other markets.
Rate3 is a blockchain-based platform to help companies tokenize their assets and manage a unified identity across different blockchains.
“We believe that blockchains have not reached mainstream adoption because the current infrastructure is not ready yet. First, there are no common legal frameworks to tie ownership and control of real world assets to digital tokens. Second, there are still many differing smart contract standards and lastly, the current identity ecosystem on blockchains is still fragmented. Without common standards, government regulators will also find it hard to regulate and audit blockchain companies,” said Rate co-founder and CEO Jake Goh.
The total funding received amounts to 25,000 ether (ETH), the digital token on the Ethereum network. Rate3’s tokenized assets can also exit as Steller assets.
Prior to the latest fundraising, Rate had raised a $2.3-million pre-Series A round co-led by Alpha JWC Ventures and Insignia Venture Partners in March 2018.
Rate says it seeks to ensure integrity and security of financial transactions over its platform and mitigate frauds in the e-commerce and online payment space that are expected to reach $41.7 billion by 2020.
“As an advocate of blockchain technologies and after having backed 400 companies, the challenge for enterprises to adopt blockchain is glaringly real. We believe Jake has the tenacity and foresight to rally his team to execute Rate3’s vision of a tokenized world amongst enterprises,” said David Su of Matrix Partners China.
Some exchanges on which RTE tokens are traded include Bibox FCOIN, Coinrail, ABCC exchange, DDEX, DEX.top and IDEX.
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