Fintech Startup Arch Raises Oversubscribed $5M Seed Round, Aims to Become “the Blackrock of Web3”

Decentralized finance (DeFi) asset manager Arch announced the closing of an oversubscribed $5 million seed round. DCG and Upload Ventures led the round, with participation from Soma Capital, GBV, Devlabs, Ripio Ventures, Platanus Ventures, and other notable angel investors.

Arch’s platform provides investors passive exposure to digital assets by buying a basket of crypto assets through a single token, much like buying an ETF in traditional finance.

“Arch develops tokenized index-products, which dramatically simplify how people can build and manage a well-diversified crypto portfolio, saving time and energy,” said Arch CEO Christopher Storaker.

Users interact with smart contracts to buy tokens that track indexes constructed by the firm’s research arm, Arch Intelligence. Their proprietary Arch Token Classification Standard (ATCS) that tracks more than 1,000 classified tokens is an industry first, according to a company release.

The company is building passive investment vehicles using web3 principles: the platform is permissionless, does not provide individualized advice, and its tokens are self-custodied.

This article first appeared in SeedWeek.