Kaiko acquires Vinter to accelerate crypto indices in Europe

With the success of bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, the crypto index market has never been bigger or more interesting, and that's something Kaiko has understood very well.

The French start-up specialising in market data has just acquired Vinter, which is considered one of Europe's leaders in crypto indices.

Launched in 2019, Vinter is now working with players such as Hashdex, 21Shares, Valour and Sygnum Bank, which need indices to set and manage the price of their ETP products; these are known as ETFs in the US.

The amount of the deal has not been revealed, but it is the largest acquisition for Kaiko, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

According to our information, the deal, made in equity and cash, could be worth several tens of millions of euros. Kaiko, which has 70 staff (in 4 offices in Paris, New York, London and Singapore) had raised €53 million in 2022.

With this acquisition, Kaiko, which is now one of the world leaders in data and regulated derivatives, aims to accelerate in a particularly dynamic segment.

"With the launch of the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the United States, there is real momentum in crypto indices and we want to take advantage of this at European level," explains Ambre Soubiran, who is Kaiko's CEO.

This deal comes just a few weeks after the announcement of the takeover of the UK's CCData - another crypto index provider - by US exchange Bullish, which also owns Coindesk and Coindesk Index.

"As it grows, the market will consolidate and there will be just a few players left. We want to be among those players, and above all we are the only independent player," adds Ambre Soubiran, who questions the sustainability of a system in which the Exchanges own index providers that rely, among other things, on data from... Exchanges.

While CCData has been bought by Bullish, Kraken, which is another exchange platform, has bought Crypto Facilities, which is the leader on the US market, in 2019.