Digital Asset gains backing from Samsung and Salesforce

The funds from the latest financing round will be used to accelerate adoption of the Digital Asset Modelling Language for smart contracts.

By Hayley McDowell

Salesforce and Samsung Venture Investment Corp have made strategic investments in Digital Asset, as the FinTech looks to accelerate adoption of its smart contract language.

Digital Asset said in a statement that the latest investment from Salesforce and Samsung is part of the second closing of its Series C financing round, which raised $35 million in the first closing in December.

The funds will be used to further develop the open source Digital Asset Modelling Language (DAML) for smart contracts, which facilitates integration into securities services firms’ platforms. The source code for the DAML smart contract language was made available under an Apache 2.0 open source license last year, enabling third parties to modify DAML and integrate it with other platforms. The decision was welcomed by BNP Paribas, DTCC and Broadridge, among others.

Digital Asset also confirmed that Susan Hauser, a 28-year Microsoft veteran and advisor to the technology company, has been appointed to the board of directors. She previously served as corporate vice president of Microsoft Worldwide Enterprise & Partner Group, responsible for commercial and government sectors, and enterprise partnerships globally.

“Salesforce Ventures and Samsung joining our Series C financing round demonstrates the potential that technology giants see in DAML as the standard for smart contracts,” said Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset. “Appointing Susan Hauser to the board will help us capitalise on this vision. She brings us her unparalleled understanding of customer needs and exceptional experience building an enterprise business at Microsoft.”

Digital Asset burst onto the scene with its blockchain technology services a few years ago, teaming up with the Australian Securities Exchange and then Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing to replace post-trade systems with the distributed ledger technology. Although the projects are ongoing, Digital Asset has shifted its primary focus towards the use of smart contracts.

“We strongly believe that Digital Asset’s model to embed DAML in partner platforms fundamentally changes the entire blockchain market,” said a spokesperson from Samsung Venture Investment Corp. “Digital Asset has positioned itself for success in the blockchain space and we are pleased to help it achieve its vision.”

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