Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
S&P Global Leads Kaiko’s $110M Round With RBC
September 14, 2026 | NCFA Market Activity | Capital Markets Infrastructure And Funding, Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Artificial Intelligence And Data
Institutional Investors Back Tokenized Market Data
On September 14, 2026, Paris-baesed digital asset firm Kaiko raised US$110 million in a Series B extension led by S&P Global. RBC joined BNP Paribas, Nasdaq Ventures, Bpifrance, Broadridge, Coinbase Ventures, DRW Venture Capital, Canton Foundation, Stellar and Susquehanna Private Equity Investments. Existing shareholders Anthemis, Point Nine and Revaia also participated.
Kaiko plans to invest the capital in its market data business and services for onchain capital markets. Its coverage spans more than 150 exchanges and protocols, with data used for pricing, trading, valuation, risk, surveillance and benchmarks.
S&P Global, RBC, Nasdaq, BNP Paribas and Broadridge bring something beyond capital. They operate businesses that depend on reliable prices, benchmarks, market data and institutional distribution. Their investment gives Kaiko deeper relationships with firms that could also become customers, partners or distribution channels as tokenized securities and digital assets enter more institutional products.
S&P Backs Kaiko After Launching 4,000+ Indices
S&P Global was already working with Kaiko before leading the round. On September 1, S&P Dow Jones Indices and Kaiko launched the S&P Kaiko Digital Asset Indices, bringing more than 4,000 rates and indices into one suite. Kaiko provides digital asset data, calculation and connectivity across more than 150 exchanges, while S&P DJI brings benchmark administration, licensing and global distribution.
The relationship also reaches tokenized traditional assets. Earlier work brought the iBoxx U.S. Treasuries Index onto the Canton Network, giving onchain applications access to an established fixed income benchmark. S&P is therefore investing in a company it already uses across digital asset pricing, benchmark production and onchain data delivery.
RBC's participation puts a major Canadian bank alongside global exchanges, banks, data firms and digital asset investors backing Kaiko's expansion.
Tokenized Markets Increase the Value of Trusted Data
A tokenized bond or fund still needs a defensible price. Banks and asset managers also need reference rates, liquidity data and valuations that can flow into trading, collateral, risk, reporting and settlement systems across digital asset markets. Those requirements become harder when assets trade across multiple exchanges, blockchains and around the clock.
Institutional adoption is already growing in tokenized collateral and cash markets, where pricing, valuation and settlement quality directly affect whether products can scale.
Kaiko provides market data feeds, analytics, indices, pricing and monitoring tools. Its onchain services can also deliver licensed data directly into blockchain applications. That gives the company exposure to several parts of the market without depending entirely on crypto trading volumes.
The investors will participate in a Strategic Industry Working Group chaired by Kaiko and focused on data for tokenized capital markets. Nothing formal has been disclosed yet but there will be lots at the table including banks, exchanges, financial data firms, blockchain networks and market technology providers with different requirements for pricing and using tokenized assets.
So what does this mean for traditional data companies? Building digital asset expertise internally takes time, specialist market knowledge and direct connections to fragmented venues. Investing in firms such as Kaiko can give established providers access to those capabilities while they contribute distribution, benchmark credibility and institutional clients.
Competitive Snapshot and Outlook
Coin Metrics competes for institutional market, network and reference data. Lukka is strong in valuation, accounting and audit data. CoinDesk Data competes in digital asset benchmarks and market information. Bloomberg and LSEG have much larger enterprise distribution and can add digital asset products to platforms already embedded inside banks and investment firms.
See: How Tokenization Became A Business Investors Can Measure
Kaiko brings deep digital asset expertise in pricing, benchmarks and institutional data. S&P's investment can help Kaiko reach more financial institutions, but it also highlights the competition. Large data companies already have the customers, distribution and capital to partner with specialists, buy them or build similar capabilities themselves.
Kaiko will need more revenue from indices, tokenized assets and enterprise data if it wants to rely less on crypto trading activity. The working group only becomes strategically beneficial if it leads to products, common data practices or stronger links into existing financial systems.
Talking Point
S&P Global isn't just buying exposure to crypto growth. It is backing specialist data capability it already uses. If tokenized markets scale, reliable pricing and benchmarks may be one of the harder and more valuable pieces for financial institutions to recreate themselves.
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