Decentralized trading firm bags $2.1m in strategic funding

Singapore-based PrePO, a decentralized trading platform, has raised US$2.1 million in a strategic round led by Republic Capital and IOSG Ventures.

PrePO founder Xavier Ekkel / Photo credit: PrePO

PrePO allows users to take long or short positions on pre-IPO companies and pre-token crypto projects. The platform also provides users access to pre-public assets as well as transparent and up-to-date market prices.

The firm aims to launch a token by the second quarter of 2022. The first version of the platform will be launched directly on Arbitrum, an Ethereum scaling solution, soon after the token launch.

PrePO was founded by former Canva software engineer Xavier Ekkel in 2021.

“We believe prePO’s approach to synthetic pre-public assets is a gamechanger for those who have not been able to participate in the private markets before,” said Brian Johnson, head of crypto at Republic Capital.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore gagged cryptocurrency trading platforms from all forms of advertising earlier this year. NFTs will also be taxed in the city-state based on the nature of their use.

See also: Singapore’s ‘Crypto King’ has no clothes

Other investors in the round include:

• Possible Ventures
• DCV Capital
• Shima Capital
• HoneyDAO
• Caballeros Capital
• MEXC Global
• AscendEX
• Berggruen Holdings
• NeptuneDAO
• Dexterity Capital
• NxGen Capital
• Re7 Capital
• Global Coin Research