### Talos Acquires Skolem to Enhance DeFi Capabilities

Talos, a crypto trading software provider and unicorn supported by prominent investors such as Citibank and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), has acquired Skolem, a DeFi-access platform.

The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Talos stated that Skolem will enhance its on-chain capabilities and allow its institutional clients to access more decentralized finance (DeFi) services.

"This acquisition helps Talos enhance our on-chain capabilities and provide clients with access to additional DeFi liquidity pools, as well as expand our portfolio management service (PMS) to include DeFi services," said Talos co-founder and CEO Anton Katz.

Katz added that as the digital assets market evolves, many of their clients are interested in diversifying their investment strategies or offering such capabilities to their customers via Talos' white-label services.

Founded in 2020, Skolem offers a platform for institutional investors to access DeFi markets, including trading, staking, lending, and liquidity provisioning on DeFi protocols. Katz noted that the Skolem platform will be fully integrated into Talos as part of the acquisition.

### The Talos-Skolem Deal

Talos and Skolem first connected in 2022 and began collaborating shortly after. Acquisition talks started nearly a year ago and the deal was finalized recently. Although the size of the deal remains undisclosed, it seems significant, as Skolem raised $20 million in Series A funding in 2022 from notable investors including Galaxy Digital, Steve Cohen's Point72 Ventures, Jump Crypto, and Dragonfly Capital.

Based in New York, Skolem's LinkedIn page suggests it has up to 50 employees. Katz declined to comment on the specific headcount or whether Skolem’s staff will join Talos.

### Talos' Acquisition Strategy

This acquisition is Talos' third, following its recent purchase of Cloudwall, a crypto risk management platform, and last year's acquisition of D3X Systems to enhance pre-trade capabilities.

Talos is open to more acquisitions. "There are phenomenal teams out there building great products, and we are exploring how we can integrate their services for our global client base," Katz said.

In 2022, Talos was valued at $1.25 billion after raising $105 million in a Series B funding round. Katz did not disclose the company's current valuation. Besides Citibank and a16z, Talos' investors include Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, BNY Mellon, PayPal Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, and Fidelity Investments.