TraderPal closed an investment commitment of US$15 million from Tek Innovation, the single family office based in Miami focused on deep tech and fintech that had already entered the holding in 2023 with US$10 million, when the company was taking its first steps.
With this operation, the fund’s total bet in TraderPal reaches US$25 million. The funds will go to TraderPal Token KK, the group’s tokenization arm in Tokyo, and its sister operation TraderPal Token LATAM.
The thesis of the company, founded by Lester Pereira, is concrete: the bottleneck of the tokenization of real assets in Latin America, the United States and Europe is no longer technology or structuring, but placement.
“Latin America, the United States and Europe know how to tokenize; what they lack is who to sell it to. Japan has the investors, the regulation and the infrastructure. We are the bridge,” declared Lester Pereira.
Japan: the market where tokenization was built by traditional banking
Unlike other markets, tokenization in Japan was not driven by startups but by the traditional financial system: MUFG, Nomura, Daiwa and SBI have been building the ecosystem for five years. The country accumulates some US$2.2 billion in public offerings of security tokens and has ODX START, a regulated secondary market dedicated exclusively to these assets.
At the same time, Japanese households maintain nearly US$7.5 billion in cash and deposits that yield just 0.4% annually, a differential that makes Latin American assets, infrastructure, energy, real estate and private debt, an attractive alternative for the conservative Japanese saver who seeks yield without leaving the regulatory perimeter.
The TraderPal model operates on two sides: TraderPal Token LATAM identifies, structures and packages projects at source; TraderPal Token KK places them in Japan through large financial institutions, both in its retail channel and among institutional clients, including pension funds.
With the US$15 million, the company will advance licensing in Japan, Argentina, El Salvador and Brazil, with subsequent plans for Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, the United States, the European Union and markets in Asia and the Middle East.
Alliance with R3al Blocks to add origination in Argentina
In parallel to the round, TraderPal Token closed a strategic alliance with R3al Blocks, an Argentine real asset tokenization platform based in Buenos Aires.
The agreement now enables the regulated placement of projects in Argentina under the tokenization sandbox of the National Securities Commission, and contemplates the structuring of joint projects for Brazil. For TraderPal Token, the alliance adds local origination in Argentina; for R3al Blocks, access to placement rails in Japan.
R3al Blocks operates a marketplace of tokenized assets, real estate, agricultural land, sports facilities and energy, with investments from US$100, and is led by Débora Carrizo, a specialist in tokenization of real assets and former member of the IBM security laboratory.
“Argentina already has a framework to tokenize; the next step is to connect those assets with global investors. The TraderPal Token placement rails in Japan open up capital to our projects that until now was out of reach,” said Débora Carrizo.
For his part, Angy Belluty, Principal Partner of Tek Innovation, highlighted the repetition of the bet: “TraderPal fulfilled what it promised in 2023 and today it has something that few have: real access to distribution in Japan.”
