Lukka, a crypto asset data and enterprise software provider, raises a $110M Series E led by Marshall Wace at a $1.3B valuation
Yogita Khatri / The Block :
Context & Ripple Effects
Lukka's new round extends an arc that began with its $53M Series D led by Soros Fund Management in March 2021 — the through-line being that traditional asset managers, not crypto-native funds, keep leading its raises. Marshall Wace taking the lead on this $110M Series E at a $1.3B valuation doubles the prior round's size and pushes Lukka past unicorn territory.
The closest comp in the coverage is YipitData's up-to-$475M Series E from Carlyle three months earlier, which valued the Wall Street-focused alt-data firm above $1B — evidence that mainstream private equity and hedge fund capital was already repricing data businesses that sell to institutions.
First-order effects
- Marshall Wace becomes both Lukka's lead investor and a member of its target customer base of hedge funds, tightening the feedback loop between institutional demand for crypto data and the capital funding it.
- Lukka now has roughly double the Series D war chest to scale its tax and enterprise data products aimed at Wall Street compliance workflows.
Second-order effects
- Competing crypto data and index providers like Bitwise — which raised a $70M Series B at a $500M+ valuation mid-2021 — face pressure to match Lukka's institutional-grade positioning or cede the 'Wall Street-ready' label.
- Hedge funds leading rounds they also buy from signals to other traditional allocators that crypto data vendors are investable infrastructure, likely drawing more crossover capital into the category.
Third-order effects
- If hedge-fund-led rounds keep setting valuations for crypto data firms, the sector consolidates around vendors that can clear institutional diligence — separating 'Wall Street-grade' providers from retail-facing tooling.
- The pattern points toward crypto data becoming a recognized alternative-data asset class, with pricing power shifting to firms whose products survive institutional procurement.
The trend: Traditional asset managers are moving from buying crypto exposure to owning the data infrastructure that prices it, with each successive round raising the bar for what counts as institutional-grade crypto tooling.