Banca Generali, a subsidiary of Italy’s largest insurer, is running a $ 14 million investment round in Conio, a crypto wallet provider popular in Italy.
A commercial distribution agreement to offer Conio services to Banca Generali customers in 2021 has also been signed.
There were a few smaller investors in the Series B round, but they weren’t made public. Banca Generali made up the vast majority of the increase, a Conio representative said, declining to give the exact number.
Prior to this round, Conio raised $ 3 million in seed investments in late 2015, led by Poste Italiane, and a $ 3.5 million round in mid-2018 from various investors, including Banca Sella.
Currently, the bank’s custody solution will only offer Bitcoin, said Michele Seghizzi, director of marketing and external relations at Banca Generali, adding that the bank’s clients range from about $ 500,000 to about $ 10 million in terms of available assets.
“Right now it’s just Bitcoin,” Seghizzi said in an interview. “We decided to focus on the most important digital currency, which makes up the largest part of the market, and get security right. she [Conio] are open to extending the service to other digital currencies in the future. “
Earlier this year, Conio deployed a wallet integration with Italian challenger bank Hype that allowed around 1.2 million mobile banking customers to buy, sell and store Bitcoin through their banking app, similar to Revolut in the UK
“What we’re doing with Banca Generali is similar to hype,” said Christian Miccoli, co-founder of Conio, “but on a much larger scale.”
With the Multisig solution, each Banca Generali customer is issued a private key that is stored on their phone, while the second and third keys are held by the bank or Conio. That way, if the customer loses their key, the money can still be reclaimed, Miccoli said.
MassMutual, a large US insurance group that recently bought $ 100 million worth of Bitcoin, has sparked rumors of insurance companies in Europe that are also involved in crypto investments. Could Banca’s parent company, Generali Group, which controls approximately $ 625 billion in assets, think similarly?
“You’d have to ask her that,” said Seghizzi.
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