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Swyftx Acquires Caleb & Brown
Swyftx Acquires Caleb & Brown

Transaction Overview

On July 1st, 2025, Swyftx, one of the largest Australian cryptocurrency exchanges, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Caleb & Brown, a high-net-worth-focused crypto brokerage, for an undisclosed amount.

 

Target: Caleb & Brown

Caleb and Brown is a Melbourne-based, high net worth focused crypto brokerage that specializes in personalized trading services across the digital asset landscape. Caleb & Brown focuses on the relationship model used successfully across traditional  financial services – every client that comes onto their platform gets assigned a broker to assist them in executing trades  and handling all customer service needs. Caleb and Brown’s core services include 1) Brokerage Services, which provide personalized 24/7 trading support for 250+ digital assets, 2) an OTC Desk, which provides high volume trading solutions with deep liquidity and competitive pricing, 3) the Caleb and Brown Asset Management, an actively managed crypto asset fund for accredited investor, 4) crypto custody. 

 

The business has more than AUD $2 billion of digital assets under custody and was founded by Rupert Hackett and Dr. Prash Puspanathan in 2016. C&B is led by CEO Jackson Zeng and has 64 team members across both Australia and the US. Caleb & Brown has not raised any outside capital. 

 

Architect Partners’ Observations

Architect Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Caleb & Brown. 

 

Swyftx’s acquisition of Caleb & Brown marks the largest acquisition targeting high net worth crypto investors. It also reflects two important shifts in the evolution of crypto exchanges, particularly within the ANZ region.

 

First, high-net-worth client service is becoming a strategic differentiator. Exchanges are beginning to recognize that personalized brokerage and deep client relationships offer a competitive advantage while greatly reducing attrition. This is a model that high-net-worth clients are accustomed to in their financial lives. Caleb & Brown’s approach, which assigns a dedicated broker to every client, stands apart from the high-volume, low-touch models that dominate the market. Swyftx gains access not only to clients but also to an established business model that emphasizes trust, service, and retention in a way few crypto exchanges have pursued.

 

Second, this is a milestone moment for ANZ crypto M&A. While there have been many plays for global expansion by exchanges, this is the first of its kind in Australia moving into the US, signaling that the region is entering a more active phase of market maturity. 

 

We believe this transaction will serve as a catalyst for further strategic activity to expand globally and to augment services as companies seek differentiation in both product and customer segments.

 

Strategic Rationale

Swyftx is acquiring Caleb & Brown to expand into the United States via C&B’s regulatory framework, and to acquire the relationship model inherently required with a higher-tier customer base. This acquisition will grant Swyftx entry into the U.S. 12 to 24 months faster than otherwise possible organically. Furthermore, the acquisition diversifies Swyftx’s primarily retail client base to include 25k+ high net worth individuals in numerous countries. 

 

“Caleb & Brown has quietly established one of the most impressive brokerage offerings in the world, with a heavily differentiated private client service. We see enormous growth potential.” – Jason Titman

Netgear Acquires Avaak

On July 26, 2012, Netgear (NASDAQ: NTGR, market cap: $1.3b) announced the acquisition of Avaak, Inc. Architect Partners was the financial advisor to Avaak on this transaction.

[Note: In August 2018, Netgear spun out Arlo Technologies, based on the Avaak product and cloud services. At that time Arlo reported 2.2 million registered users. Services represented 8% of revenues and growing. Arlo had a market cap of almost $2 billion at launch.]

Avaak develops and markets wireless products for the smart home market. Avaak’s flagship product line is the VueZone™ home video monitoring system, featuring the only completely wire-free IP cameras on the market. The VueZone system includes a gateway unit, small wire-free (no networking or power cables required) cameras and a mobile application for viewing video on smartphones or tablets. Users can view their cameras via the mobile app or a browser, receive motion detection alerts, record and share video with others. VueZone is sold through the company’s web site and Amazon, and customers must sign up for a subscription service to watch video on mobile devices. Competitors include Dropcam, iControl, Logitech’s WiLife, Xanboo (acquired by AT&T;), Motorola’s 4Home and Comcast’s and Verizon’s newly-introduced home networking offerings.

This transaction rides two major trends: growing interest in SaaS business models (even for network-connected hardware vendors), and increasing use of video for sharing, monitoring and collaboration.

This deal underscores how the fast-growing smart home sector is attracting quite a bit of interest from consumer electronics manufacturers, security vendors and communications service providers.

Expanding retail distribution can be quite costly, and startups like Avaak frequently turn to large partners/acquirers to reach mass markets.

Netgear’s main business is in wireless routers. This is a very competitive business, and Netgear is working to differentiate its offerings with leading edge WiFi routers, network attached storage products, video solutions and other innovations and to create new revenue streams by launching services.