Dispersion Holdings PLC will focus on investments in DeFi, or decentralised finance otherwise known as open finance, a disruptive technology that uses the blockchain and cryptocurrencies to remove financial intermediaries from transactions creating a quicker, cheaper, more efficient and more secure way of providing financial services.
Team Behind Argo Blockchain Launches London-Listed DeFi Fund
The Company has been admitted to the Access segment of the AQSE following a placing and subscription at 3p per share, that raised a combined £9 million. The Company previously raised £2.2 million before expenses in a pre-IPO fundraising round.
DeFi is a disruptive technology that uses the blockchain and cryptocurrencies to remove financial intermediaries from transactions creating a quicker, cheaper, more efficient and more secure way of providing financial services.
On admission, the Company will have 612,500,000 ordinary shares in issue, valuing Dispersion Holdings at a market capitalisation of approximately £18 million.
Tennyson Securities and Novum Securities acted as brokers to the Company, with Novum Securities also acting as Corporate Adviser.
The flotation will enable Dispersion Holdings to raise the public profile of DeFi and provide new funds for the Company to execute its portfolio driven investment strategy and realise long-term value creation. The global DeFi market is seeing strong growth and by August 2020, it was estimated that $7 billion was held in various DeFi platforms (source: medium.com).
The Company has already made initial investments in NFT Investments plc and ePIC Blockchain Technologies, Inc.
Michael Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of Dispersion Holdings, said: “Dispersion Holdings’ admission to the AQSE Growth Market marks a significant milestone in our journey and, indeed, for the DeFi sector in the world’s leading financial centre. It is a vote of confidence in our investment plans and gives us a firm foundation on which to build our long-term growth strategy in a market that has bright days ahead. London has a golden opportunity to become the global capital for DeFi, and we look forward to demonstrating the value of this growing part of the FinTech sector.”
Company Highlights
The Company will look to identify investment opportunities in the high growth FinTech sector within the UK, the USA and Canada. The Board intends to deploy the majority of the Company’s cash resources in the acquisition of minority interests in a number of different, yet to be identified, companies in the broad FinTech sector, and to apply expertise to the business operations and strategic plans of these companies. The experience, operational skills and contacts of the Board are intended to act as an accelerator to start-ups and early-stage companies to maximise their profit opportunity.
The Company’s Directors have an established track record, experience and networks in the crypto currency sector, digital assets management and decentralised finance, as well as the media industry to drive value creation.
The Board of Directors includes Michael Edwards (Chief Executive Officer) – the co-founder of Argo Blockchain (LSE: ARB), Guild Esports (LSE: GILD) and Cellular Goods (LSE: CBX) and Timothy Le Druillenec, a Director of NFT Investments Plc.
The other Non-Executive Directors of the Company are Mark Rutledge, CEO of Carraway Capital Corp., an investor with a decade’s worth of experience in the cryptoasset world and more than 25 years’ experience in structuring and financing technology start-ups, such as 20 Year Media, an early AI pioneer in chatbot technology and Misha Sher, Vice-President of Sport and Entertainment at MediaCom, who brings a 15 year career in sponsorship, media and digital marketing, having negotiated in excess of $100 million in sponsorships and rights agreements across four continents.
