Talos strengthens APAC presence with Samar Sen and Singapore office
Samar Sen’s appointment is the latest senior hire for the firm following a $40 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. In the Spring, Talos hired Justin Schmidt, formerly Head of Digital Asset Markets for Goldman Sachs, as Head of Strategy, and Alfonse Mandese, ex-Citi, as Head of Sales and Business Development.
Talos has announced the appointment of Samar Sen as Head of Asia-Pacific in a move to execute its growth strategy for the region, including plans to open a Singapore office.
The fintech firm specialized in the institutional trading of digital assets chose Samar Sen for his experience in a variety of product, strategy, and technology leadership roles at capital markets firms for 20 years.
Samar Sen joined Talos after serving as the Global Head of Digital Products for Securities Services at Deutsche Bank. There, he co-led the bank’s digital asset strategy and product delivery.
His long career includes senior Asia-based roles at BNP Paribas, Barclays, and TradeHero after starting his career at Goldman Sachs in New York.
Anton Katz, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Talos, said: “As a technology firm focused exclusively on helping institutions around the world safely and efficiently access the digital asset markets, it’s important that our team brings the proper understanding of the challenges our clients and prospects face. With his background as a capital markets technologist, Samar most definitely fits the bill. We’re excited to add someone of his caliber to lead our APAC growth strategy, and look forward to his future success as we grow into 2022 and beyond.”
Samar Sen, Head of Asia-Pacific at Talos, commented: “Talos is one of the most respected firms in the crypto industry, quietly working with many of the world’s largest financial institutions on their digital asset strategies. As institutional investors and their service providers increasingly allocate capital toward digital assets, they will require Talos’s institutional-grade trading platform and its connectivity to global liquidity. The quality of Talos’s products and their engineering talent is unrivalled in the market, and I cannot wait to contribute to the team’s vision. The opportunity to scale a platform built for an entirely new asset class comes around perhaps once in a career.”
Justin Schmidt, Head of Strategy at Talos, added: “As we all know, crypto is 24/7 and global. Talos has been expanding organically in Asia for some time now, and, simply put, it’s time we create a local presence to help us better serve our clients. Talos looks forward to working with Singapore and hiring locally for all business functions across revenue, technology, and operations. Personally, I am beyond excited to reconnect with Samar in his new leadership role, and I look forward to working together to continue to build our Asia business.”
Ex-Goldman Sachs Justin Schmidt is also a recent acquisition at Talos. This executive move is of great significance as Schmidt served at Goldman Sachs as Head of Digital Asset Markets since 2018 and spearheaded the company’s crypto trading desk in global markets and overall digital asset strategy.
Schmidt will be responsible for developing, executing, and sustaining Talos’s strategic initiatives and managing business operations. He will also assist in recruiting talent and will drive the company’s growth internationally.
Talos was developed exclusively to support end-to-end trading of digital assets, from onboarding to price discovery, execution and settlement, including bilateral access to liquidity providers.
Talos caters to both investors and financial service providers, including prime brokers, OTC liquidity providers, lenders, custodians, and exchanges.
The firm has recently raised $40 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, which also included backing from PayPal, Fidelity Investments, Galaxy Digital, Elefund, Illuminate Financial, and Steadfast Capital Ventures.
