Zaria Systems, a US-based company that builds real-time infrastructure for mark-to-market credit and structured finance, has raised USD 5.2 million in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The investment will support the build-out of Zaria’s infrastructure for structured finance and digital asset-backed lending markets. It also supports the company’s pending application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to charter Zaria National Trust Bank (ZNTB).
Trust bank charter would consolidate deal services
ZNTB would be a special-purpose national bank limited to the operations of a trust company and related activities. Zaria currently provides loan servicing, backup servicing, collateral management, and agency services to structured finance market participants and digital asset-backed lenders. If the OCC approves the charter, these services would be consolidated under a single, federally regulated trustee. According to the company, this would give transaction stakeholders one regulated counterparty across the lifecycle of a deal, instead of several separate providers.
Emily Barron, Co-founder and CEO of Zaria, said the financing will allow the company to accelerate growth and scale its existing services, including expanding its team and extending its technology. Aaron Frank, Partner, Fintech at Lightspeed Venture Partners, said Zaria is already working with structured finance and digital asset-backed lenders. ZNTB’s organisers and management team bring corporate trust, fintech, banking, ratings, and regulatory experience from organisations including BNY Mellon, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Moody’s, SoFi, Affirm, NYDIG, Block, and the OCC.
Real-time collateral monitoring for structured and tokenised lending
The company’s model reflects a change in how collateral is monitored. Structured finance has traditionally relied on periodic, batch-based checks to monitor and verify collateral. According to Zaria, this approach is becoming less suitable as securities-backed, digital asset-backed, and tokenised lending require real-time monitoring and automated margin calls. Its infrastructure is designed to provide that continuous oversight for lenders and other participants in structured transactions.
Zaria’s platform is live with partners including Ledn, Maple, Galaxy, Kraken, and Figure. Through these partnerships, it provides backup servicing, agency, collateral management, and node services infrastructure across warehouse facilities, forward flow loan sale programmes, and securitisations. The seed round and the pending OCC application serve the same plan: scaling the services already in operation while seeking a federal trust charter that would bring them under one regulated entity.
