One River Digital, a cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund with exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), has closed its first investment round. The funds will be used to scale its crypto-focused institutional investment efforts.
Sebastian Bea, president of One River Digital, said on Wednesday that the company has raised $41 million in a Series A funding round from Goldman Sachs and Coinbase Ventures.
According to One River Digital, other investors included Liberty Mutual Insurance, an American diversified global insurer, and Infinity Investment Partners, an alternative investment management firm.
The new money, according to One River Digital’s president, would allow the company to expand its investment options to assist the digital ecosystem.
“We’ll put these funds to work expanding our investments, distribution, and operations. These monies will help us achieve our goal of assisting institutions in gaining access to and investing in the future of finance,” Bea explained.
One River Digital was created in 2020 by Eric Peters, the founder and CEO of One River Asset Management, the startup’s parent firm.
The crypto fund is well-known in the cryptocurrency industry, having amassed almost $600 million in Bitcoin and Ether in late 2020 and profiting handsomely from a big crypto surge in early 2021.
One River Asset Management is supported by billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard, co-founder of the Brevan Howard, which reportedly bought a 25% investment in the firm in October.
“This team’s experience and skills, together with our existing investors at Brevan Howard and our Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council, will be invaluable to One River as we pursue our ambition to be the top institutional investment manager in digital assets,” Peters said.
As previously reported, One River Digital formed an academic and regulatory advisory committee in March 2021, bringing together notable industry heavyweights such as Jay Clayton, the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States. One River Digital filed a carbon-neutral Bitcoin exchange-traded fund application in May.
