Securitize, a primary issuance and lifecycle management platform for digital securities, and an SEC-registered transfer agent, is to acquire Distributed Technology Markets (DTM), an SEC and FINRA registered broker-dealer and alternative trading system (ATS). DTM received approval in 2020 for the primary issuance and secondary trading of private placement securities, including digital asset securities. As part of the acquisition, Securitize will also acquire Velocity Platform, a money services business with money transmitter licenses in several states. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
Carlos Domingo, Securitize CEO and co-founder, says:, “The acquisition of DTM will pave the way for Securitize to develop a suite of services for private capital markets that will significantly improve the interaction between issuers and investors and be better from top to bottom than anything available in the market today.”
Founded in 2017, Securitize is one of the most successful and recognised companies in the digital securities space, having signed more than 150 customers and more than 40,000 investors using its issuance and lifecycle management platform for digital securities.
Securitize has raised more than USD30 million from some of the world’s largest financial institutions, including Santander InnoVenture (rebranded as Mouro Capital), MUFG, Nomura Holdings, SBI, and Sony Financial Ventures (SFV). In addition, Securitize has received funding from well- known blockchain investors such as Algo Capital (renamed Borderless Capital), BlockchainCapital, Blockchain Ventures, Fenbushi, Kinetic, SPiCE VC, and the Tezos Foundation.
Chris Wittenborn, CEO of DTM, says: “There are enormous opportunities in private market securities issuance and trading. Partnering with industry-leader Securitize will allow us to capitalise on these untapped markets at scale.”
DTM, a subsidiary of Velocity Markets (formerly known as Orchard Platform Markets LLC), was established in 2015 and recently received regulatory approval for primary issuance and secondary trading of private placement securities, including digital asset securities.
The acquisition will leverage the existing Securitize technology stack to simultaneously enable seamless liquidity for issuers and investors, which is currently one of the most underdeveloped yet critical components of the digital securities industry.
