SC Ventures launches Libeara

With its tokenisation platform, Libeara intends to offer FundBridge’s accredited investors a simplified onboarding experience, subscription, and redemption of units in a tokenised Singapore Dollar Government Fund. As the government bond fund is traditional, FundBridge will procure investors and manage the fund. Being incubated by SC Ventures, Libeara developed an institutional-grade platform with deep knowledge of tokenisation technology and the team’s experience in financial regulation and structures.

Libeara’s platform enables customers to safely issue security tokens for their investors, as it leverages Decentralised Ledger Technology to provide a tech stack for security token offerings. With its platform, Libeara intends to improve investing for digital asset natives and traditional investors, allowing them to invest in previously inaccessible assets. The company was created after proof-of-concept projects in the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Ghana, where it researched the need to blend technology with existing securities regulations to offer the optimal structure for token holders.

According to FundBridge’s officials, the partnership with Libeara intends to ensure that the company can provide additional investment opportunities enabled by decreased operating costs, increased transparency, and higher operational efficiency. Libeara’s tokenisation platform aims to democratise investments through three curated business use cases, including a tokenisation service for regulated fund partners, token-native government bonds, and a general-purpose security token platform. Moreover, the platform enables customer ownership of investment assets through records embedded into a public blockchain ledger, providing users with immutable, verifiable claims, as well as visibility into all holdings and transactions.

Libeara also leverages the knowledge of partners to provide improved capabilities. Some of them include Fireblocks, Fazz via StraitsX, Chainanalysis, Chekk, and LetsBloom. Representatives from SC Ventures stated that the group currently builds an ecosystem of ventures and partners in the digital asset space. Considering that SC Ventures has institutional-grade custody and exchange of digital assets with Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets, the launch of Libeara was the next step in its commitment to better serve its customers. 

As Standard Chartered’s fintech investment and ventures arm, SC Ventures is a business unit that provides a platform and incentive for the banking group to support innovation, invest in disruptive financial technology, and explore alternative business models.  Recently, SC Ventures entered multiple partnerships, including one with SBI Holdings, aiming to develop a Digital Asset Joint venture investment company in the UAE, with a planned capitalisation of USD 100 million. The two companies' decision to ally was based on the UAE’s expanding prominence as a fintech hub, mostly due to its regulatory environment, infrastructure, and workforce.  SC Ventures intended to use its knowledge in digital assets gained from ventures like Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets, and investments in fintech entities, including Ripple and Metaco.

Moreover, at the end of August 2023, SC Ventures invested in Hong Kong-based KYC, KYB, and data platform Chekk to increase its product development and sales. With the investment, SC Ventures intended to accelerate its product expansion and increase its sales organisation to meet the demand of the global identity verification market for individuals and corporates.