SBI Crypto Investment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan’s SBI Holdings, has made a strategic investment in Taiwanese blockchain startup OwlTing.
While the investment amount has not been disclosed, the press release states that it is “an eight figure USD investment for 20% equity.” OwlTing plans to use the investment to accelerate its expansion activities.
“OwlTing has offices in Japan, the U.S., and ASEAN countries with plans to expand this year to Sweden, Thailand, and Indonesia. The investment from SBI will allow OwlTing to accelerate expansion into Europe and establish offices for global operations; our most critical milestone next year will be our initial public offering on NASDAQ,” OwlTing founder and CEO Darren Wang stated.
Founded in 2010, OwlTing is focused on e-commerce and blockchain applications with services in global travel, food safety, social media platforms, global hotel bookings, and blockchain application services. The company launched a B2B blockchain service ‘OwlChain’ last year as the world’s first blockchain-based food safety system that traced the source of each ingredient, and the later released ‘OwlNest,’ a B2B system that provides hotel operators with a blockchain hotel management service.
Wang added that the partnership with SBI will help facilitate the sales of OwlNest in Japan.
Earlier this year, Japanese financial services group SBI setup a $200 million blockchain and AI fund, and aims for the total amount of ultimate investment commitment to expand to $500 million. Last month, it made a strategic investment in Templum, a New York-based startup focused on the trading of digital assets.
