IntoTheBlock and Trident announce merger, raise $25M for new firm

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. M&A szn’s still going strong — and this morning’s announcement that Trident and IntoTheBlock are merging is yet another sign of the consolidation we’re seeing. If you’re not familiar with the two, IntoTheBlock is a financial services platform designed for institutional DeFi investors, and Trident Digital offers services from lending to advisory. The firms will now become Sentora, and the goal of the new joint entity is to cater to funds, treasuries, and other institutional investors in DeFi. Basically, they want to create an ecosystem focused on the needs of institutions to push into DeFi. Trident’s Anthony DeMartino will take the helm of Sentora. (If he sounds familiar to you, he was also former head of risk strategies at Coinbase.) “Through our strategic partnerships with industry leaders, we are developing a suite of products that address the key blockers preventing institutional adoption of DeFi,” DeMartino said. “The future of finance is decentralized — but not disorganized,” he added. And, honestly, what a fun way to put it. Meanwhile, IntoTheBlock’s CEO Jesús Rodríguez will take the helm as CTO. But the merger isn’t the only news they announced. They also raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by New Form Capital, with Joint Effects and Tribe Capital. Ripple was noted as a strategic ecosystem investor. “Institutional capital won’t move into DeFi without strong risk management and compliance frameworks. Sentora provides both — without sacrificing performance,” New Form’s Alex Marinier noted. So let’s zoom out. We’re seeing a rise in these types of M&A deals, in which crypto firms are looking to create a platform that can cater to multiple needs for clients, like institutional investors. We’re also just plain seeing an uptick in M&A activity. That’s a trend I wouldn’t expect to go away anytime soon. Let’s take a look at some (brand-spanking-new) data from Blockworks Research, shall we? You can see above that finance is one of the top sectors to consolidate. This makes sense because we’re going to see a lot more competition as this space heats up and institutional investors look to find a platform that can meet most of their needs. Who wants to have multiple platforms when you can find one that fulfills your needs, right? It simplifies it, and projects will cater to what the market’s looking for (see the deal above). As you can see, crypto deal activity is starting to pick up. Just remember: we’re likely going to stay a ways off from those crazy 2021 levels for a while. Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters: Source: https://blockworks.co/news/sentora-merger-raise-25m