Gauntlet raises $125M from SBI Holdings

Gauntlet has raised $125 million in a Series C financed solely by SBI Holdings through its U.S. subsidiary, SBI Holdings USA, Inc., the company said. The funds will support international expansion and expand Gauntlet’s stablecoin coverage beyond the U.S. dollar and euro to include the Mexican peso, Japanese yen and other fiat-backed stablecoins.

Founded in 2018 as a blockchain analytics firm and later shifting to vault curation, Gauntlet provides risk management and optimization tools to help institutions deploy capital onchain into decentralized finance markets. The firm reports it currently curates more than $1.5 billion across its vaults and works with over 150 fintechs and institutional clients.

Gauntlet plans to use the Series C proceeds to launch new onchain products, grow its global team and integrate artificial intelligence into operational workflows. The company did not disclose a valuation for the round; it was last valued at about $1 billion in 2022 after raising $23.8 million in a Series B led by Ribbit Capital.

Tarun Chitra, Gauntlet’s co-founder and CEO, described vaults as “the next major revolution in financial markets,” and compared their potential to the effect exchange-traded funds had on equity participation. He said the funding will help accelerate the company’s international expansion as more financial activity moves onchain.

SBI’s investment follows the firm acting as sole investor in another institutional crypto platform’s $76 million Series C earlier in the week. Yoshitaka Kitao, representative director, chairman and president of SBI Holdings, said the company intends to work with Gauntlet to build next-generation financial infrastructure across Japan, Asia and other markets, and referenced pending U.S. legislative proposals by name.

Gauntlet indicated the capital will be used to scale operations, deepen partnerships with financial services and crypto firms, and enhance onchain analytics and automated vault management to meet institutional risk controls.