Pantera Capital-backed startup Fission raises $10 million to help investors cash out of tokenized funds faster

Money can move into tokenized private funds much faster than it comes out. Even as asset managers use blockchain technology to turn fund shares into digital tokens, a lack of liquidity can mean investors must wait months to find a buyer. Fission, a New York-based startup, is building a system designed to let investors skip that wait and sell their tokenized fund shares in seconds.

On Thursday, the startup, founded in 2024 by CEO Jonathan Shaffer, CRO Steve Bendit, and CTO Chris Humphrey, announced a $10 million Series A to address the liquidity problem. Pantera Capital led the round, which closed in September, with participation from Circle Ventures, Borderless Capital, and Ari Rubenstein. Fission declined to disclose its valuation.

Although tokenization has helped investors skip cumbersome paperwork to invest in funds from major managers such as BlackRock, Apollo or Janus Henderson, it doesn’t guarantee that they will find buyers when they want to sell their holdings. Fission’s approach is to act as the buyer, allowing investors to sell through its platform rather than wait for the fund to........

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