Abu Dhabi-backed venture building and investment firm Further Ventures has invested in French crypto wallet technology firm Dfns, as interest in digital assets continues to grow.

The venture arm of the UAE capital’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ has led a $16 million investment in the Paris-headquartered company during a Series A funding round, which also drew capital from public investment bank Bpifrance and several other backers.

The latest investment, which follows a $13 million seed round in 2022, will support growth plans and efforts to boost Dfns’ business in key markets like the UAE, European Union, United Kingdom and the United States.

Dfns’ tech offering enables businesses to manage digital assets on blockchains. The company looks to tap more banks, payment services, trading platforms, investment apps, tokenization projects, government and corporate treasuries and fund administrators to adopt its wallet infrastructure.

“We’re not looking to scale our workforce aggressively… Our focus is to deliver world-class infrastructure for our fintech clients,” said Clarisse Hagège, CEO of Dfns.

Last year, ADQ and Oman Investment Authority rolled out the $180 million tech-focused Jasoor Fund  to bolster the digital economy, with focus on investing in businesses in sectors like fintech, health tech, cleantech and logistics.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com