Digital Securities Platform Horizon Aims to Raise $5 Million in Series A

On December 3^rd 2019, Horizon Globex announced the launch of a Series A funding round. In order to further develop its digital securities platform and potentially break into Europe, the company is looking to raise $5 million through a Regulation D offering.

Details of Horizon’s Series A Funding Round

Horizon is currently developing an end-to-end digital securities platform. Digital securities — a term synonymous with security tokens —  feature the integration of blockchain technology and traditional financial securities.

Horizon’s platform aims to handle the complete life-cycle of digital securities, from initial issuance to secondary market trading, while ensuring regulatory compliance through each step of the way.

The company is now looking to raise $5 million in a Series A funding round, through the SEC’s Reg D Rule 506(c). The funds will be used to further develop its platform and create an MiFID II compliant Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) for use across Europe. So far, Horizon has been selected by Switzerland-based Timeless Luxury Group and the Antiguan Government to build digital securities infrastructures.

According to Horizon CEO Brian Collins,

“We’re gearing up to help power a globally connected network of regulated blockchain-trading venues which we believe have the potential to drive the next generation of secondary market liquidity. We are thrilled to give investors the opportunity to own a stake in our fintech business as well as in any future growth in our software licensing business.”

Collins added that Horizon is at the center of an ongoing evolution in the capital markets industry, providing a key that companies can utilize to compliantly leverage digital securities:

“Capital markets are evolving right now, and we believe that Horizon is at the forefront of this evolution with our proprietary end-to-end suite of blockchain solutions and services that deliver a harmonized rule-book for transparent secondary trading of securities using a blockchain.”

The Current Status of Horizon’s Digital Securities Platform

The platform is currently live, and features a number of blockchain-as-a-service software solutions. These solutions are offered only to regulated financial institutions. They include Horizon’s Open Order Book, the company’s flagship trading solution. It features a compliant order-driven orderbook, an on-chain matching engine, and the instant settlement of transactions. The tech is accessible through a mobile application, enabling investors to trade digital securities directly from a phone.

Additional solutions include Tokenetics, which is responsible for the tokenization process itself, allowing users to create and record securities on a blockchain. There’s also KYCware, a white-label onboarding technology which verifies investor identity and eligibility. AMLCop performs a cross check to ensure investors have no infringements when it comes to global sanctions, watchlists, or Ethereum wallet forensics. Adding to the list are CustodyWare which provides access to SEC-registered transfer agents and VStock Transfer, a tool providing cap table management, dividend payment support, and custody solutions.

Horizon says such services could lead to industry-specific securities trading. Sports or music fans, for example, could trade a digital security representing a share of a sports team or music royalties of their choice. The idea seems to coincide with the thoughts of Harbor CEO Josh Stein, who has previously made a case for the tokenization of professional sports teams.

There’s no doubt that Horizon is highly anticipating the future success of the digital securities industry. They forecast that digital securities featuring equity alone will grow by more than $2 trillion by 2030.

Current trends certainly support such a forecast. So far, the digital securities industry has been leveraged to raise nearly $1 billion. With global financial entities — such as Nasdaq —beginning to enter the space, the future seems bright. As shown with the recent struggles of real estate tokenization however, any major change to a world’s existing infrastructure will simply take time.

What do you think about Horizon launching a Series A funding round to raise $5 million? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Image courtesy of Horizon Globex.