(Bloomberg) — Further Ventures, the venture capital firm backed by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ, led a $16 million investment in Paris-based crypto wallet technology firm Dfns, as digital-asset dealmaking heats up.
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Other investors in the round include market maker Wintermute, Motive Partners, Bpifrance and Motier Ventures, the family office of the owners of the Galeries Lafayette Group, Dfns said in a statement on Tuesday.
The startup, whose technology allows large companies to build and embed crypto wallets in their operations and applications, will use the proceeds to expand business with financial-services clients like banks and trading platforms, Chief Executive Officer Clarisse Hagège said in an interview.
Dfns is looking to capitalize on rising appetite for digital assets among large financial companies as Donald Trump, touting a crypto-friendly agenda, prepares to take over the White House. Among recent signs that banks are warming to cryptoassets, Italy’s Intesa SanPaolo SpA this week made its first spot Bitcoin purchase.
“In 2025, more large financial institutions will enter the space, so the timing is right for us to accelerate,” Hagège said. With backing from Further Ventures, she’s also planning to expand in the Middle East.
Founded in 2020, Dfns has built technology which it says makes it simpler for developers to build and securely manage digital asset wallets. Dfns’s technology could be used by banks planning to start spot crypto trading or retailers looking to launch a stablecoin, for example, according to Hagège.
Dfns clients include Fidelity International, Zodia Custody and Bridge, the stablecoin company that was acquired by Stripe last year, it said in the statement. The startup, which plans to expand its workforce to 35 employees from the 25 now, raised $13 million in 2022.
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