Decentralized Exchange Aggregator (DEX) 1inch just closed a $ 12 million fundraiser led by Pantera Capital. Other lenders include ParaFi Capital, Nima Capital, LAUNCHub Ventures, Spark Capital, gumi Cryptos, Blockchain Capital and Investors private individuals Josh Hannah, Kain Warwick and Alexander Pack. 1inch plans to use the funds to build new products, CEO Sergej Kunz said in a press release.
1inch looking for new features to react to the high competition in the industry
The funding round has come just as the DEX aggregator industry - basically, front-ends that optimize trading through major decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols - is becoming more and more popular.
The deal was structured as a Simple Agreement for Future Token (SAFT), Kunz said through a spokesperson. "We recently released the second version of our protocol and there are many more products in the pipeline, which we will reveal soon," Kunz said in a statement, promising to find "solutions that will really make a difference in the DeFi space."
Version 2 includes a new API, called Pathfinder, which according to 1inch provides better routing between DEXs and supports 21 protocols, ranging from Balancer to Mooniswap. The algorithm is capable of packing, unpacking and moving collateral tokens from Aave to Compound as part of the exchange path, 1inch said.
Paul Veradittakit, a Pantera Capital partner, said that 1inch provides users with "a powerful routing and trading infrastructure to get them the best rates." Asked how 1inch stands out from other DEX aggregators, Aleks Larsen, the general venture fund partner at Blockchain Capital, said the company has "a bold vision to build the first vertically integrated DeFi platform."
“We believe they are well positioned to continue their leadership in the DEX aggregation and expand the depth and breadth of their product offering in the DeFi markets,” Larsen said in an interview.
Yield farming business for 1inch
1inch launched in August after raising $ 2,8 million from Binance Labs, Galaxy Digital, Greenfield One, Libertus Capital, Dragonfly Capital, FTX, IOSG, LAUNCHub Ventures and Divergence Ventures.
The company also participated in the yield farming frenzy that began this summer by announcing its own yield program where rewards are offered to users who pledge tokens in the WBTC, USDC, DAI and USDT pools on the Mooniswap DEX.
According to spokesman Sergey Maslennikov, the launch of the 1INCH token is pending the completion of an "audit team". The startup was co-founded by Kunz, formerly a software engineer at carmaker Porsche, and Anton Bukov, a former smart contract developer at NEAR Protocol.
