Blockchain Stock Market Startup Funderbeam Raises $2.6 Million

A startup headquartered in London that uses blockchain tech to power a next-generation stock market has raised $2.6m in new venture funding.

Thomson Reuters, Draper Associates and IQ Capital were among those that invested in the funding round for Funderbeam. Existing stakeholders, including 3TS Capital Partners and a group of angel investors, also took part in the round.

The startup is pursuing a use case that has seen broad interest worldwide, both among new market entrants as well as major established players like Nasdaq and the Australian Securities Exchange. Millions of dollars in venture capital and in-house funding have thus far been deployed in a bid to create new mechanisms for the exchange of stocks.

Kaidi Ruusalepp, Funderbeam’s founder and CEO, has experience in this field, working for two years as chief executive for Nasdaq OMX’s outfit in Tallinn, Estonia. She later sat on the service’s management board between 2007 and 2011.

Ruusalepp said in a statement:

“Funderbeam is the future of exchanges, combining three things in one: data, funding & trading, and it’s all happening across borders and on blockchain technology.”

Platform users purchase tokens tied to the startups they choose to invest in, which can later be traded in an on-site order book. Thus far, Funderbeam’s marketplace has been used as a vehicle for three startups (including itself) to raise funds.

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