Dutch financial services corporation ING announced today it is spinning off Katana into its own entity called Katana Labs.
As a part of its move to independence, Katana has closed $3.9 million in funding, half of which ING contributed “to enable further growth and to pave the way for an independent future for Katana.”
Katana began as one of 25 of ING’s innovation initiatives. The project follows in the footsteps of Yolt and Cobase, former ING innovation initiatives that scaled up outside of ING’s labs.
“Supported by ING Labs, we developed, tested and validated the technology. Now it’s time to move to the next phase as an independent fintech,” said Santiago Braje, CEO of Katana. “We are very excited about the opportunities we see in developing our platform and expanding our client base.”
ING launched Katana to help traders leverage predictive analytics to determine bond pricing based on historic and real time data. In 2018, ING enhanced the tool with the launch of Katana Lens, a tool for bond market investors that identifies the most promising trades based on historical data. Last year, Global Finance Magazine highlighted Katana as Innovator 2019.
“In the past few years, Katana has managed to grow from an internal innovation project to a serious value proposition for bond investors. We attracted major clients who see the added value of this super smart AI-tool. I’m proud that with our support Katana grew out to a fully-grown fintech that is ready for an independent future,” said Annerie Vreugdenhil, head of Innovation at ING Wholesale Banking.
Katana Labs has incorporated in the U.K. and is now headquartered in London.
