Nonco, an institutional digital asset brokerage firm, has taken an important step in its expansion in the American continent after obtaining $10 million in its seed investment round.
This round was a combination of equity and convertible bonds, led by Valor Capital and Hack VC. Other participants in the round included Morgan Creek Digital, CMCC, Lvna Capital, Theta Capital, Bullish, Bastion Trading, Libra Capital Ventures, and other high-profile investors.
“We are positioning ourselves as a different company, it all starts from our name, Nonco, which comes from ‘non-conformist’. Our goal is to become the leading brokerage firm for digital assets, and we intend to achieve this by establishing a new standard of work that prioritizes technology and service while ensuring risk management and institutional compliance.”said Fernando Martínez, CEO of the startup.
Nonco is creating a brokerage that combines cutting-edge technology with a service for institutions, companies and professionally controlled entities (PCEs). It offers its services through a unique approach that does not require asset custody and that leverages multiple settlement mechanisms that mitigate counterparty risk.
Since its launch in April, it has transacted more than US$6 billion, with an average growth rate of 65% month over month, whose products include spot, funding, derivatives and structured products. Nonco aims to become one of the leading global digital asset brokerages.
The leadership team has extensive experience in the cryptocurrency and traditional finance space, and is led by Fernando Martinez, CEO, former Executive Director of OSL, who brings almost a decade of experience in the cryptocurrency and startup space; Caue Teixeira, former partner at Génesis Global, brings experience in low-code applications; Guilherme Rebane, Strategy Director in Brazil, has more than seven years in cryptocurrencies and more than 20 years in derivatives trading at financial institutions such as BTG; Jeffrey Howard, US general manager, former general manager of Americas Futures and Options at Merrill Lynch; Mariano Garza, Director of Operations, former operations manager for Deposit Solutions; and Eduardo Garza, Trading Director, Former Head of Trading for OSL and former Portfolio Manager at Principal Financial Group.
“Given their extensive knowledge and experience in both cryptocurrencies and traditional finance, the Nonco team is uniquely suited to capitalize on the growing institutional interest in digital assets in the US, Mexican and Latin American markets. I am excited to be part of the next stage of Nonco’s growth.”commented Brian Brooks, advisor to Grupo Valor Capital and Partner at O’Melveny & Myers.
Nonco’s new board members are recognized as visionary leaders in digital assets. Brian Brooks, often referred to as the ‘first fintech controller’, was previously Controller and Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase. Alex Pack, was previously Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Dragonfly Capital, and helped launch the cryptocurrency fund at Bain Capital Ventures.
