Developed by veterans in trading and regulation, Agio rates default risk for the leading trading venues in crypto
London, UK – March 5, 2024 – Agio Ratings has raised $4.6 Million in PreSeed and Seed funding to transform how the digital asset industry prices risk. Superscrypt led the Seed round and was joined by Portage, along with MS&AD Ventures and several angel investors in insurance and asset management. The company, which launched in May 2022, enables institutions to price the risk of 30+ major trading venues.
Agio’s ratings are a response to the lack of quality data to power standard risk models. The company has developed quantifiable measures of default risk, beginning with the leading centralized exchanges. Agio’s approach analyzes over 1,000 variables assembled from on-chain and off-chain data sources. When it comes to predicting defaults, Agio’s models perform as well as the leading commercial models of default risk. Notably, the company flagged FTX as one of the riskiest exchanges in July 2022.
“Digital asset investors deserve better, and increasingly capital allocators and regulators expect more,” said Ana De Sousa, CEO of Agio Ratings. “We believe the digital asset industry is massively underserved when it comes to access to reliable risk data. TradFi investors can price risk with help from the large ratings agencies but digital asset investors have no such luck. We are excited to have the support of Superscrypt, Portage, and MS&AD Ventures as we work to become the world’s most trusted source of risk analysis for this ecosystem.”
Agio has assembled an experienced team of PhD researchers and data scientists to develop its risk models. The company’s founders have decades of experience in rating credit risk and they’re eager to apply their insights to a growing market. They aim to expand from 32 to 70+ rated entities by April.
“What Agio is building is a critical enabler of greater counterparty transparency and a catalyst for greater institutional participation onchain,” says Jacob Ko, Partner at Superscrypt. “Beyond helping investors achieve high, risk-adjusted returns, it’s also about unlocking opportunities in credit creation and insurance underwriting which remain largely untapped in the Web3 space today.”
“Crypto institutions are innovators, but their tools for pricing risk are primitive,” said Stephanie Choo, Partner at Portage. “As an early investor, we believe that Agio Ratings will empower firms that trade and invest in digital assets to make more informed decisions with their capital.”
Agio’s clients include some of the industry’s leading market participants, such as LMAX Digital and Portofino. For more information on Agio Ratings, please visit: www.agioratings.io
About Agio Ratings
Agio is transforming how the digital asset industry prices risk. Their approach analyzing more than 1,000 variables enables firms that trade and invest in digital assets to make better decisions to protect capital, underwrite credit, and secure long-term success. For more information on Agio Ratings, please visit: www.agioratings.io