Key Takeaways
- • Fission, a New York-based startup, raised a $10 million Series A to let investors sell tokenized fund shares in seconds rather than waiting months for a buyer, according to Fortune.
- • Pantera Capital led the round, which closed in September, with participation from Circle Ventures, Borderless Capital, and Ari Rubenstein; Fission did not disclose its valuation.
- • Fission acts as the buyer of tokenized fund shares for a fee, with CEO Jonathan Shaffer saying a sale that would normally take about 200 days can settle in 90 seconds or less.
- • The company has eight employees and serves mainly institutional clients, including hedge funds holding tokenized private-credit or equity, crypto treasury managers, and stablecoin issuers.
- • The raise follows a $1.6 million pre-seed led by SALT Fund and Kraynos Capital, with existing backers including New Form, gumi Cryptos Capital, Anthony Scaramucci, Manhattan Venture Partners, Reflexive Capital, and Lattice Capital.
Summary
Fission, a New York-based startup founded in 2024 by CEO Jonathan Shaffer, CRO Steve Bendit, and CTO Chris Humphrey, announced a $10 million Series A aimed at the liquidity gap in tokenized funds. According to Fortune, Pantera Capital led the round, which closed in September, with participation from Circle Ventures, Borderless Capital, and Ari Rubenstein. Fission declined to disclose its valuation.
Tokenization has accelerated among major asset managers, including BlackRock, Apollo, Janus Henderson and JPMorgan, but tokenization does not guarantee a buyer when an investor wants to exit. Fortune reported that InvestaX said in June that investors in tokenized private-credit products mostly subscribed or redeemed through the funds rather than selling to other buyers, and an earlier International Organization of Securities Commissions report found progress in issuing tokens exceeded progress in building secondary markets. Franklin Bi, general partner at Pantera Capital, described the post-tokenization exit problem as one that almost no one is focused on.
Fission's model has it act as the buyer. Investors connect digital wallets and submit a sale, while Fission manages the legal and trading mechanics. Shaffer told Fortune that a sale that would normally take about 200 days can be done for a fee and settle in 90 seconds or less. The founders arrived at the problem through their own experience: Shaffer worked as an investor at Point72, and Bendit was previously head of business development at Securitize. After more than two years of discussion, they teamed up with Humphrey to launch Fission.
The company has eight employees in Long Island and Los Angeles. Most customers are institutional, including U.S. and overseas hedge funds, crypto organizations managing treasuries, and stablecoin issuers holding reserves in interest-earning tokenized investments. A smaller but growing group of wealthy individuals also uses the platform. The Series A follows a $1.6 million pre-seed led by SALT Fund and Kraynos Capital, and existing investors New Form, gumi Cryptos Capital, Anthony Scaramucci, Manhattan Venture Partners, Reflexive Capital, and Lattice Capital continued their support.
Tokenization has accelerated among major asset managers, including BlackRock, Apollo, Janus Henderson and JPMorgan, but tokenization does not guarantee a buyer when an investor wants to exit. Fortune reported that InvestaX said in June that investors in tokenized private-credit products mostly subscribed or redeemed through the funds rather than selling to other buyers, and an earlier International Organization of Securities Commissions report found progress in issuing tokens exceeded progress in building secondary markets. Franklin Bi, general partner at Pantera Capital, described the post-tokenization exit problem as one that almost no one is focused on.
Fission's model has it act as the buyer. Investors connect digital wallets and submit a sale, while Fission manages the legal and trading mechanics. Shaffer told Fortune that a sale that would normally take about 200 days can be done for a fee and settle in 90 seconds or less. The founders arrived at the problem through their own experience: Shaffer worked as an investor at Point72, and Bendit was previously head of business development at Securitize. After more than two years of discussion, they teamed up with Humphrey to launch Fission.
The company has eight employees in Long Island and Los Angeles. Most customers are institutional, including U.S. and overseas hedge funds, crypto organizations managing treasuries, and stablecoin issuers holding reserves in interest-earning tokenized investments. A smaller but growing group of wealthy individuals also uses the platform. The Series A follows a $1.6 million pre-seed led by SALT Fund and Kraynos Capital, and existing investors New Form, gumi Cryptos Capital, Anthony Scaramucci, Manhattan Venture Partners, Reflexive Capital, and Lattice Capital continued their support.
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