ARCHITECT SUCCESSES

SEE ALL
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

Snapshots

Week of May 15 – 21

Steve Payne
May 24, 2023
DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT

26 Crypto Private Financings Raised ~$246M

What a difference a week makes.  Last week Architect tracked $246M in announced private financings in the crypto sector, probably the most active week in two months but still below the average week in 2022.   Add in two large financings with unreported amounts (Lifeform raised at a $300M post money valuation led by IDG Capital; and Metagame Industries raised at a $100M valuation) and we’re roughly back at 2022 levels.

 

The theme here has to be continued early-stage building.  The top ten announced financings were all Seed or Series A.  This is consistent with a drastic across the board slowdown in later investing stages across tech.  SaaS entrepreneur Jason Lemkin recently tweeted his guess at “how frozen the venture markets are, roughly, by stage:”

 

Crossover: 95%

Growth: 85%

Series C: 75%

Series B: 65%

Series A: 50%

Seed: 33%

 

And this is SaaS-centric – other segments are worse!  On this basis, crypto financing levels are not particularly worse than venture in general.

 

The largest raise announced last week was by Auradine, raising $81M ($71M in equity and $10M in a line of credit, no tokens) in their first institutional round at a valuation reported by The Block at over $500M (note that this round closed last year before the FTX collapse, but was just reported).  Auradine has not provided much info on their business, but it involves AI and blockchain applied to Infrastructure/security solutions.  This one looks like a classic old-school deal, led by non-crypto-centric venture capital firms Celesta Capital and Mayfield. The highly experienced founding team has collectively had tens of billions in successful exits from NetBoost, Cavium, Innovium and Palo Alto Networks.