Proxymity, Broker Insights and Coinweb Secure Funding

The happy trio comprises a digital investor communications platform, an insurtech and a cross-chain computation platform.

Great news in London and Dundee with Proxymity, Broker Insights and Coinweb grabbing some juicy tech funding.

Digital investor communications platform Proxymity has got $31 million (£23.4 million) in its second-round investment stage.

Insurtech Broker Insights has raised more than £6 million in a Series A funding round led by Mercia Asset Management. Chroma Ventures, which first backed Broker Insights with seed funding in 2018, made a follow-on investment in this round, alongside a group of private UK and US investors.

Cross-chain computation platform Coinweb has picked up $4 million (£3 million) in funding from a lot of entities.

Closer to Paradise for Proxymity

Proxymity was developed and operated by Citigroup in London before it spun out last year to become its own company.

The firm says it has provided digital access to over 12,000 meetings in 29 markets worldwide. Proxymity will use the new funds for product development.

Original consortium investors BNY Mellon, Citi, Computershare, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Börse, JP Morgan and State Street have participated in this current round.

Proxymity connects issuers, intermediaries and investors via its proprietary digital network. Its services include real-time digital proxy voting and shareholder disclosure; and automating shareholder ID requests in industry compliant formats.

The firm’s co-founders are Dean Little and Jonathan Smalley, who have experience in custody product development. They formulated the idea for Proxymity while working in Citi’s Equities and Securities Services (ESS) Custody Product group. The platform was first launched in the UK in 2018, following a collaborative pilot partnership with Computershare. Proxymity now has a team of over 100 employees.

In addition to its London HQ, and customer hubs in Manchester and Melbourne, Proxymity says it will continue to maintain its technology and R&D team in Tel Aviv.

American Dream at Broker Insights

Broker Insights says the funding will be used for platform development and a launch in the US.

The company, which currently employs 35 staff at its headquarters in Dundee, expects to double its headcount in 2022, with the majority of new jobs in Scotland.

Brokers Insights’ platform enables insurers to distribute their products to regional brokers through automation and collaboration tools. It also provides real-time data for insights into companies’ insurance requirements.

The Scottish company was founded in 2018 by former Aviva senior executives Fraser Edmond and Iain Crole. Its platform now connects insurers such as AXA, RSA, Zurich, QBE, Travelers, Markel and Hiscox with over 160 brokers.

According to the firm, in the past year the platform has doubled its gross written premiums (GWP) to more than £1 billion. Edmond adds that the insurtech has 12% of the UK commercial insurance market.

Coinweb and the Gang

According to London-based Coinweb, venture capital firms and partners in this round include KuCoin Labs, Morningstar Ventures, Panda Capital, Shima Capital, Qi Capital, Vespertine Capital, Magnus Capital, Private Office International, DCI Capital, MM Ventures, 316VC, Contango Digital Assets, Master Ventures and Kabaal.io (a subsidiary of the Klein Group).

The firm notes that “in large part” it has been a self-funded project for the past four years.

Coinweb says it is “unifying blockchains” via its Inchain architecture. For example, it can offer blockchain-agnostic tokens that can move between chains.

“By coupling properties, functionalities and data from multiple blockchains, Coinweb has introduced the new frontier of DeFi and cross-chain development. We believe this secure interoperability will open Pandora’s box to an explosion of high performance, low-cost dApps, and we are excited to play our part in that development,” adds Mike Grantis of Contango Digital Assets.

Coinweb’s next step will be an initial DEX offering (IDO) public sale on a soon-to-be-announced launchpad.

Antony Peyton
Antony Peyton
Antony Peyton is the Editor of eWeek UK. He has 18 years' journalism and writing experience. His career has taken him to China, Japan and the UK - covering tech, fintech and business. Follow on Twitter @TonyFintech.
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