Helix’s Real-World Asset Protocol Raises $2M in Pre-Seed Funding

The real-world asset protocol of Helix, a startup incubated by the Singapore-based private credit company Helicap, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding.

The round was led by Saison Capital and Superscrypt, with participation from Emurgo Ventures, Comma3 Ventures, Outlier Ventures, and Emoote, among others. There was no valuation disclosed.

The project seeks to enable blockchain-based lending to Southeast Asian businesses, according to a statement released today.

Its platform combines proprietary credit evaluation tools with a pipeline of credit opportunities spanning multiple industries.

Jitendra Singh Jaitawat, co-founder and CEO of Helix and a former executive director at Goldman Sachs Technology, stated in an interview that there is a demand for obtaining sustainable yields within the crypto ecosystem.

“The aim was to eliminate friction and deliver the product directly into their native ecosystem.”

Moreover, Helix will target crypto companies “sitting on stablecoin liquidity.”

Helix announced that it may also enable institutional liquidity providers to trade tokenized loan assets before maturity.

Since its inception in early 2018, Helicap, a private credit platform, has distributed more than $200 million in loans in Southeast Asia.

Last year, Helicap raised $5 million from PhillipCapital and Tikehau Capital and has raised $10 million.

The Helix protocol is scheduled to launch on Ethereum in the fourth quarter of this year, with potential expansion to other chains.

The pre-seed funding will be used to prepare for the launch and to engage additional business development and engineering personnel, according to Jaitawat.

In a written statement, Looi Qin En, a partner at Saison Capital, said, “Having led Helicap’s Series A round in 2020, we have seen the team’s track record of facilitating private credit transactions across the region and its comprehensive credit analytics.”

“The blockchain ecosystem enables new opportunities for web3-native institutions pursuing a sustainable return. We believe Helix is well-positioned to provide credit opportunities and on-chain global liquidity to meet the rapidly expanding credit demand.”