Letter from the CEO 2018

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Alex Medana
December 19, 2018
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Dear Team of Rockstars,

Ah! 2018€¦One year we are bound to remember as a company and as individuals too€¦Well, at least for some of us though Tanuj, I think you beat us all! It is critical to pause, take stock and get a flavour for what we have been through. My flavour is part bitter, part sweet. What's yours? Bitter because it was a year so hard that I really don't know how we have pulled through it.

Flo and I spent a lot of time on funding: first with a seed round from friends that was extremely close to our demise and then the seed extension with the name-not-to-be-known-yet that lasted for almost half year! Funding is a necessary evil but it consumes a lot of energy and time. The good thing is that we have learned a lot in the process and we have acquired the right contacts to get us to a sizeable series A when we'll need it. Having our General Counsel Ben on the team has made us so much stronger in mind and material.

Only do we know now but we were ill-timed with CryptoFabrik, when the retail flows started to dry up. As we are not a supertanker and the question was not on the tech but more on the momentum (or lack of) we could react to the adversity and re-position ourselves as fast as possible.

We lost some teammates and friends which is inevitable in any human enterprise but we stay true to our motto of not being assholes: we keep in touch, help them in some cases to move on and the door is never closed.

A bitter taste never lasts beyond a nagging feeling of I don't want to have that thing ever again! and overall it is a sweet picture.

We finally have a product and clients who will use it. It will be complete early 2019 (I keep it vague so as to not add any stress in this period of festivities!) Cryptos are not dead, it's just that the flow is more institutionalised now and this evolution is set to continue. We are well placed to benefit on the tech side with CryptoFabrik as well as on business side with QuantFabrik. QF is in the sweet spot of providing to players in the market who need hedging and market-making strategies.

We are at the right time and place for witnessing and being part of an explosion of DLT applications and particularly in capital markets with the advent of DABS since the middle of the year. Big institutions have noticed us and are engaging to develop commercial and meaningful relationships. We have signed clients and have more than a healthy pipeline of prospects. We also have a healthy pipeline of partners particularly on the custody side. Our mix of solutions and businesses are coming together nicely and the first six months of 2019 are critical for us to move to the next stage.

Our aim is to become a platform of choice for issuing, listing, trading and market-making, it is for the humans and institutions to use our best-in-class solutions made with a lot of care.

Our mission is very simple:

FINANCE FOR ALL: MADE WITH FINFABRIK

Thank you for your contribution in 2018. I am looking forward to working closer with you in 2019 to write the next chapter of Capital Markets. It is going to be more focused, fast-paced, demanding but we have our future in our own hands which means if we do it right, we will all be rewarded.

I have two goals for 2019: bring us to free cashflow and close a significant series A.

Pause and look back to learn what went well and wrong but more importantly relax and celebrate as we will need some energy in the new year.

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FFF

Loads of love

A

Let's talk!