PANews reported on July 8 that according to CoinDesk, crypto trading company and market maker Auros said in an interview that its newly established venture capital department plans to invest more than $50 million of its own capital in early-stage digital asset companies in the next two years. To lead the investment work, the company appointed Julien Auchecorne as the head of Auros Ventures. Auchecorne previously worked at hedge fund Brevan Howard and digital asset service platform XBTO International, as well as other crypto and traditional investment companies.
The expansion also marks a milestone in Auros' transformation after the company was hit hard by the FTX crash in late 2022. CEO Ben Roth said in an interview that the market maker now estimates that it handles about 4% of the exchange's global cryptocurrency trading volume. The move marks Auros following in the footsteps of major market makers such as Wintermute and Cumberland DRW in setting up venture capital arms on top of their core trading businesses.
Auros CEO Ben Roth said that before the establishment of the venture capital department, Auros has invested in more than a dozen projects and issued nearly $20 million worth of investments since the third quarter of 2023. When talking about the company's funding allocation method, Auchecorne explained that Auros plans to make "concentrated bets" mainly on seed and series A financing stage projects.