Nectar Raises $5 Million to Build Bitcoin-Backed Income Platform

Nectar Group, Inc. raised $5 million in seed funding announced Oct. 20 to develop HoneyB, a platform designed to let institutions borrow stablecoins against Bitcoin (BTC) and invest the borrowed funds in an income fund.

Under the planned structure, Bitcoin would secure the loan while the borrowed stablecoins go into the fund. That would let institutions retain exposure to Bitcoin while seeking income from the fund’s investments, rather than selling their BTC. The first strategy would use a fund with exposure to U.S. Treasuries, credit, gold and options.

The planned strategy uses a fund offering access to a portfolio from Simplify Asset Management. Alphaledger will manage and tokenize the fund. Nectar’s announced backers include Portal Ventures, Peer Ventures and Anchorage Digital Ventures.

Nectar co-founder and CEO Josh Gordon described the round as valuing the company at $30 million post-money. He said the financing used a simple agreement for future equity with a one-for-one token warrant.

HoneyB aims to deliver yearly returns of roughly 2% to 4% on users’ Bitcoin, net of borrowing costs and fees. “Actual results depend on strategy performance, borrowing costs and loan-to-value ratios. Returns are not guaranteed,” Gordon said.

Gordon also described a gap between Bitcoin holdings and access to income markets in traditional finance. “There is an enormous gap between the capital sitting in Bitcoin and the institutional income markets available through traditional finance,” he said.

Nectar plans to use the funding to develop HoneyB and connect its custody, lending and investment services. The product plan describes both a qualified-custodian arrangement and a wallet-based route; the custodial platform is marked as coming soon.

The company plans to open the initial product to eligible institutions outside the United States in the fourth quarter of 2026. A retail launch is targeted for the first quarter of 2027, with a U.S. institutional offering planned later.