Crypto Sleuthing Firm Elliptic Raises $23 Million in Fundraise Led by SBI

Blockchain forensics firm Elliptic has raised $23 million in a Series B funding round led by Tokyo-based financial institution SBI Holdings.

Tomoyuki Nii, executive officer for overseas investment at SBI Investment, who will be joining Elliptic's board of directors, told CoinDesk that the Japanese company contributed $10 million to the funding round.

James Smith, CEO and founder of Elliptic, said Tokyo and Singapore were attractive locations not only because of their vibrant crypto communities but also because of the technologically-advanced regulators in those jurisdictions.

Elliptic uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to trace and locate suspicious transactions on blockchains.

Smith said Elliptic would be used across SBI's suite of crypto businesses including its exchange, VC Trade, and custody business.

Founded in 2013, Elliptic previously raised $12 million over five seed and Series A rounds; the last round in December 2017 led by SignalFire raised $5 million.

Beyond Asia, Elliptic's funding will also be used to develop monitoring services for Facebook's Libra network and incipient central bank digital currencies.

"The good thing about Elliptic is they can trace XRP - unlike some other anti-money-laundering platforms. We looked into those companies and actually I think Elliptic's product was the best in terms of AML.".

Smith said that Elliptic is agnostic when it comes to which coins it monitors, but said many customers had asked about XRP, particular as his firm turned its attention to Asia.

Elliptic founder and CEO James Smith at Consensus 2018, image via CoinDesk archives.