DeFi.app, a platform aiming to simplify decentralized finance (DeFi) trading, has raised an additional $4 million in a seed extension round at a flat $100 million token valuation, matching its initial seed round valuation.
The extension round included contributions from venture capital investors and Echo, the angel investing platform founded by Jordan Fish, known as Cobie, DeFi.app co-founder Dan Greer told The Block. VCs contributed $2 million to the round, led by Mechanism Capital with participation from DCF Capital Partners, Balaji Srinivasan and Pentoshi, Greer said. The remaining $2 million was raised via Echo's Comfy Capital and George Beall's groups, he added.
The VC portion of the round closed last month, while the Echo portion wrapped up in December. With this funding, DeFi.app has raised a total of $6 million, following its initial $2 million seed round last November.
In the initial seed round, DeFi.app sold 2% (200 million) of its yet-to-launch native token, HOME, from its total supply of 10 billion at a $100 million fully diluted valuation. In the seed extension round, it sold another 4% — 2% to VCs and 2% via Echo — at the same valuation, Greer said.
Later this month, DeFi.app plans to hold a public token sale for non-U.S., know-your-customer (KYC)-compliant users, offering 3% of HOME's total supply at the same $100 million valuation, Greer added.
DeFi.app has also launched a public beta version of its platform on both mobile and desktop. The platform offers "gasless" cross-chain token swaps, asset management via self-custody wallets without private key handling and crypto purchases via bank transfers or cards. Future updates will introduce perpetuals trading, yield farming and lending.
"DeFi has been waiting for its iPhone moment," Greer said. "Over 631 million people use centralized exchanges, but fewer than 2% have tried DeFi. We're changing that by making decentralized finance as easy as using your phone."
The public beta follows DeFi.app's closed beta, which claims to have facilitated over $60 million in trading volume from 2,500 initial users out of 100,000 on the waitlist. With the latest launch, DeFi.app expects to onboard "hundreds of thousands of users" in the coming months and anticipates "daily volume to scale into nine figures," Greer said.
To attract users, DeFi.app has introduced "Degen Arena," an esports-style trading tournament where users earn experience points for trading and swapping to compete for rewards.
It remains unclear whether these points will convert into a token airdrop. Greer declined to comment but said the HOME token is expected to launch in "early Q2," with a "vast majority" allocated to the community, similar to Hyperliquid.
DeFi.app currently has 22 employees, and Greer plans to double the headcount this year, primarily hiring developers.
The Funding newsletter: Stay updated on the latest crypto funding news and trends with my free bimonthly newsletter, The Funding. Sign up here!
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
