SC Ventures

Alex Manson established and led SC Ventures in 2018 to promote innovation within Standard Chartered, invest in fintech and explore new financial-services business models. It is a bank business unit; services offered by its ventures are not automatically services supplied by the bank itself.⁠[1][2]

The official portfolio page dates the SC Ventures Innovation Fund to April 2019 and separately lists the Strategic Tech Investment Portfolio from August 2016. These programme histories are distinct from the unit’s establishment.⁠[3]

SC Ventures disclosed exiting its Metaco stake when RippleRippleRipple is an American fintech company, legally named Ripple Labs Inc., that provides banks, payment providers, funds, and businesses with blockchain- and digital asset-based cross-border payments, digital asset custody, a U.S. dollar stablecoin, prime brokerage, and corporate treasury management services. Its business makes extensive use of the public XRP Ledger blockchain and its native token XRP, but neither is the same as the company itself; from 2020 to 2025, the company fought a nearly five-year legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over whether its XRP sales were unregistered securities offerings.Open the full entry acquired the digital-asset infrastructure company for $250 million. That was the acquisition price, not SC Ventures’ individual proceeds. Ripple was also a portfolio company.⁠[4]

SC Ventures and SBI Holdings announced a planned UAE digital-asset investment joint venture, intending to capitalize it with $100 million. Its global seed-to-Series-C remit covered market infrastructure, risk and compliance, tokenization, payments and DeFi.⁠[4]

Standard Chartered said Zodia Custody’s shareholders and noteholders had accepted a nonbinding acquisition offer, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. The plan would integrate custody into the bank and separate infrastructure into Zodia Solutions under SC Ventures; the announcement did not establish completed closing.⁠[5]

Libeara announced a $14 million strategic round led by GSR with further participation from SC Ventures. The company provides infrastructure for tokenizing regulated real-world assets and intended to expand internationally and develop distribution partnerships.⁠[6]

Digital Asset announced that SC Ventures and Shinhan Financial Group had joined its previously announced oversubscribed financing. The Canton developer described the additions as support for institutional onchain infrastructure, without disclosing SC Ventures’ individual contribution.⁠[7]

SC Ventures participated in OKXOKXOKX is a global digital-asset trading platform that began operating in 2017 under the name OKEx. Different regional entities provide trading, wallet, payment and related services; the global platform, OKCoin and locally licensed entities must be distinguished.Open the full entry’s strategic financing. Alex Manson emphasized trusted infrastructure and custody for institutional digital-asset adoption. The bank’s custody services and SC Ventures’ equity investment are distinct functions.⁠[8]

The unit separates origination, validation, incubation and commercialization, using funding gates to assess product-market fit. External investments focus on revenue-generating companies with enterprise-ready products, generally from Series B to pre-IPO, with Series A exceptions. That differs from building ventures at inception.⁠[3][9]

Its principal themes are digital banking and lifestyle, trade and supply chains, and digital assets. Listed operating locations include Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK, Kenya, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, combining banking, technology, compliance and operational expertise.⁠[10][9]

AI Lab evaluates AI applications for the bank and portfolio, testing the business problem, feasibility and returns before choosing to build, buy or partner. Listed applications include Qatalyst’s sustainability analysis, Project Themis’s compliance-risk work and Lexarius’s generative-AI training simulations.⁠[11]

Website: https://scventures.io/ (opens in a new window). LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scventures/ (opens in a new window). X: https://x.com/scventuresDNA (opens in a new window). YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: https://www.youtube.com/@scventuresbystandardcharte2959 (opens in a new window).⁠[10][2][12][13]