Why Swedish Bank SEB Backed its First Bitcoin Startup
In a new interview, CoinDesk speaks with Sweden's SEB Group to learn more about the bank's first bitcoin investment.
The investment branch of Sweden's SEB Group has been investing in what it calls "deep technology" startups for over 20 years.
Since 1995, it has been investing in a wide range of startups through SEB Venture Capital, including management app Tink and post-trade securities startup Information Mosaic. In 2010, CA Technologies purchased SEB investment Arcot for $200m, and in 2014, Cisco purchased SEB investment Tail-f for $175m.
But when it came to backing its first bitcoin business, the team of nine investors with an allocation of about $250m (2bn SEK) from SEB Group didn’t want to rush the process.
Head of SEB Venture Capital, David Sonnek, acknowledged the investment is "purely financial", but stressed the addition of digital currency processor Coinify to its portfolio is about more than an exit strategy.
He told CoinDesk:
"This kind of platform really unleashes the innovation of us all, and that may be the most important aspect."
Growth strategy
That said, SEB will also be taking a bigger role at the startup as part of the $4m investment, also participated in by SEED Invest Denmark
SEB's investment manager Stefan Olofsson will serve on Coinify's board of directors, and Filip Petersson is now the startup's deputy director.
Sonnek said his team doesn't intend to get involved with the digital currency processor's day-to-day operations, but indicated larger strategy will be discussed. For example, there are now plans to expand Coinify's business to Asia.
But, Sonnek said he imagines the information exchange will be a two-way process.
"We want to help grow the company," said Sonnek, "and become a more tech savvy bank."
In this way, Sonnek said he hopes the time and money being invested in the developing startup will have ripple effects across the entire SEB Group.
Sonnek concluded:
"It will take time to see what they are going to inspire."
Image of SEB facade via SEB
More For You
需要了解的:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
XRP Faces Downside Risk as Social Sentiment Turns Wildly Negative
The turn in crowd mood comes after a two-month slide of roughly 31%, leaving the token vulnerable to further downside if risk appetite weakens across majors.
需要了解的:
- XRP's price approached the $2 mark as social sentiment around the token turned sharply negative, according to Santiment data.
- The token has experienced a 31% decline over two months, making it vulnerable to further losses if market risk appetite weakens.
- Santiment's sentiment model indicates XRP is in a 'fear zone,' where negative commentary significantly outweighs positive talk, potentially influencing market positioning.
