Hedge fund manager Alan Howard invests in two crypto startups

Billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard continues backing the cryptocurrency industry with fresh investment in two digital asset startups.

The co-founder of major asset manager Brevan Howard led a $25-million extension raise for London-based crypto services firm Copper.co. The company announced Friday that the new investment follows a $50-million Series B funding round led by companies such as Dawn Capital and Target Global.

The additional funding will be directed to further strengthen Copper’s expertise in enabling traditional financial firms to benefit from blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. The firm stressed that the additional funding shows the growing interest in crypto from the traditional finance sector.

Hot on the heels of our Series B $50m raise, Alan Howard of Brevan Howard has invested $25m in Copper. This additional funding signals the growing interest and endorsement from the traditional finance sector in cryptoassets. Full details: https://t.co/HCdp0uJ1wm pic.twitter.com/JzY4zyU17d

The Copper investment follows another Howard-backed $12-million fundraise for Asian crypto investment platform Kikitrade announced Thursday. The startup intends to channel the new capital to expand its business and compliance across Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

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Howard has previously invested in major crypto firms, such as European digital asset manager CoinShares, blockchain and software development company Block.one and institutional crypto trading platform Elwood.

Howard also owns a 25% stake with One River Digital Asset Management, a United States-based hedge fund that purchased $600 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) last year. Earlier this year, Howard led a $25-million funding round for Komainu, a digital asset custody services provider created by global bank Nomura in partnership with crypto wallet firm Ledger and CoinShares.