Wisconsin financial technology startup Sequoir has secured seed funding ahead of the expected rollout of its blockchain technology to banks and credit unions starting June 1.
The Green Bay-based company raised $1.7 million in a seed funding round led by Grey Elephant Solutions LLC, Sequoir announced recently. Through integration with Jack Henry & Associates (Nasdaq: JKHY), it will have access to potential partnerships with the more than 1,700 banks and credit unions that use Jack Henry's core technology services, Sequoir founder and CEO Justin Seidl said.
Sequoir, whose name is a mashup of "secure" and "acquire," intends to enable banks and credit unions to more easily offer cryptocurrency trading and custody, or the secure storage of digital assets. The startup also is working on technology to enable banks to accept digital assets as collateral.
"With some of these banks, it's taking the approach of, 'Let's bring crypto-savvy users ... back to the traditional finance world,'" Seidl said.
Other Sequoir investors in the round were Madison's Wisconsin Investment Partners; Green Bay's Tundra Angels; Bristol Morgan Bank in Oakfield; the Bank of Kaukauna in Kaukauna; and individual angel investors.
Jack Henry & Associates is a direct competitor of financial technology firms Fiserv Inc. (Nasdaq: FISV) and Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE: FIS), which both have a large presence in the Milwaukee area, Seidl said.
Sequoir was founded in 2018 as Vertbase and was originally focused on building a platform for U.S. residents to buy and sell digital assets with their bank accounts. The company's legal name is American Trade Exchange Inc.
Seidl, who's from the Green Bay area, previously worked in product design and development for the Chicago venture capital firm New Coast Ventures. He has also worked for other startups including Chicago-based recruiting technology firm Hunt Club and Shift Savings, a Milwaukee startup he co-founded. It became known as Cookie Jar and was acquired by Madison technology firm SafetyNet.
