SharesPost, Inc., a liquidity provider to the private technology growth asset class, has just announced it has closed a $15 million Series C round led by LUN Partners and Kenetic Capital. The funding will be used to build out SharesPost’s Alternative Trading System (ATS) for private company shares and security tokens and to further expand its global reach into Asia.
Our strategy is to create a single, global marketplace for traditional and digital securities of private growth companies. Connecting U.S. and Asian investors and companies on our ATS is a key objective in realizing that vision,” said Greg Brogger, Founder and CEO of SharesPost. “With the relationships, capital and expertise of Kenetic Capital and LUN Partners, SharesPost is positioned to rapidly expand its presence throughout Asia.
Kenetic Capital is an advisor to blockchain technology companies. Based in Hong Kong, Kenetic supports blockchain platforms through investments, advisory services, community building and technology development. Jehan Chu, Founder and Managing Partner of Kenetic Capital, has joined the SharesPost Board of Directors. He said:
SharesPost is building what we think will be the world’s leading secondary platform for ICOs and secondary trading of security and utility tokens. Where others are still just talking about when they might launch their ATS, SharesPost has been operating their ATS for years and has the technology, team and customers necessary to enable global trading of digital securities.
Headquartered in Shanghai, LUN Partners Group is a global investment management group that operates multiple investment vehicles, including venture capital and private equity funds. Peilung Li, Founder and Chairman of LUN Partners Group, has joined the SharesPost Board. He commented on the news:
As the number of unicorns in China and the rest of Asia continues to grow, the need for SharesPost’s liquidity platform has become increasingly urgent here. Providing U.S. investors with access to these companies and providing Asian investors with access to American unicorns has enormous value. We are very excited to put our relationships and capital behind the creation of this emerging global marketplace.
SharesPost and LUN have also entered into a partnership, SharesPost China, which will extend the SharesPost digital securities and private market investment platform into Greater China.
With trading in the shares of more than 200 private growth companies, SharesPost’s trading volume recently surpassed US$4 billion. In May, SharesPost announced that it had successfully amended its Form ATS to include blockchain securities and tokens among those to be traded on its platform. As a result, SharesPost is now well-positioned to conduct ICOs and facilitate secondary transactions in digital securities in compliance with U.S. securities laws.