CoinList, a platform for token-based financial services with an emphasis on compliance with regulation, has raised $9.2 mln during its initial fundraising round, according to a press release published today, April 5.
CoinList is a “spin-off” of AngelList, a website for connecting startups to investors and job-seekers, where it spent its incubation period.
The press release notes that CoinList’s $9.2 mln figure includes previously-raised funds from VC firm Accomplice and research firm Protocol Labs, as well as crypto funds Polychain Capital, Digital Currency Group, FBG Capital, Libertus Capital, Blockchain Capital, Coinfund, and Electric Capital.
According to CoinList’s website, the projects on the platform have raised around $435 mln in the past twelve months, with Filecoin’s Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of more than $205 mln as a standout for the large amount raised.
CoinList hosts a compliance service, ComplyAPI, that promotes itself as “tak[ing] care of compliance so you can focus on your token sale.” The service conducts AML and KYC checks on potential investors, as well as ensures that only accredited investors - those with a net worth of over $1 mln or an annual income of $200,000 - are participating in a company’s token sale as “pursuant to US securities laws.”
Andy Bromberg, the co-founder and CEO of CoinList, said in the press release that the success of CoinList’s funding round “reflects the growing need that promising [B]lockchain companies have for superior token sale compliance and execution:”
“Now more than ever, companies raising money through an ICO need a platform partner that knows the intricacies of execution and regulation. CoinList provides even more integrity to the startups that have already distinguished themselves, and comfort to the accredited investors that want to commit to [B]lockchain technology."
Launching an ICO in the US requires a company to either register for the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accredited investor exemption, or register their ICO as a security offering.
ICOs across the country have been shut down due to what the SEC cites as a selling of “unregistered securities,” most recently in Massachusetts, in part due to the SEC’s recently launched cryptocurrency probe.
The Praetorian Group filed in early March with the SEC to register their ICO as a security offering; if their application is accepted, they will become the first company to hold an SEC-regulated ICO.