New York-based smart contracts platform for capital markets Symbiont has closed its $20 million Series B funding round with Nasdaq Ventures leading its backers among other investors Galaxy Digital, Citigroup, and Raptor Group.

This is Symbiont’s third funding round following a Series A in 2017 and a seed round in 2014, which collectively raised $15.4 million. Its CEO Mark Smith said to CoinDesk that staff have doubled to over 60 employees in the last year.

The strength of the investment made shows Wall Street’s enthusiasm towards blockchain technology despite a sustained bear market. Smith explains, “We are entering a much more realistic phase where people look at this technology and think seriously about where it makes sense to apply it and where it doesn’t.”

Symbiont’s smart contracts platform, called Assembly, is for financial institutions to share and verify data. Symbiont uses smart contracts and blockchain technology to quicken and improve service delivery for syndicated loans and the mortgage bond market.

According to Bloomberg (Jan 23), Symbiont will use the fresh funds to work on private equity, mortgages, data management, and syndicated loans. Nasdaq Ventures will also consider opportunities for its clients with an interest in leveraging blockchain technology to give Assembly a go.

Nasdaq Ventures is a venture investment program of Nasdaq’s, which focuses on investing in and partnering with fintech companies worldwide.