Folks Finance, a cross-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, has raised $3.2 million in a Series A round, bringing its valuation to $75 million.
Borderless Capital led the round, with participation from Algorand Ventures, Mapleblock Capital, Sovo Ventures and others, Folks Finance said Thursday. Although $3.2 million is a relatively small Series A, the round was described as "oversubscribed." Folks Finance co-founder and CEO Benedetto Biondi told The Block that the platform initially aimed to raise $2 million at a $50 million valuation, but ultimately exceeded this target due to investor interest.
The first $2 million of the round was raised in February of this year, with the remaining $1.2 million raised more recently, Biondi said. He declined to comment on the round's structure but said that the $75 million reflects both the equity valuation and token fully diluted valuation (FDV), indicating a potential future token launch for Folks Finance.
With the Series A round, Folks Finance's total funding now stands at $6.2 million. Previously, it raised $3 million in a seed round from backers including Coinbase Ventures, Jump Crypto, OKX Ventures and ParaFi Capital.
Folks Finance is a cross-chain DeFi platform that offers its xChain app, enabling users to lend, borrow, trade and manage digital assets across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Avalanche and BNB Chain.
"By leveraging Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), Wormhole, and Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), xChain allows anyone to deposit assets on one chain and borrow on another, offering unmatched flexibility and efficiency across ecosystems," Folks Finance claims.
Biondi said the hub or central chain for Folks Finance's cross-chain protocol is Avalanche. While Folks Finance's initial versions 1 and 2 were built on Algorand, that blockchain is no longer integrated into cross-chain V3. However, the platform can integrate both Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible and non-EVM-compatible chains, Biondi said. He added that Folks Finance plans to support more blockchains, including Consensys-incubated Layer 2 network Linea, Polygon, Optimism and ZKsync.
Folks Finance launched its platform in 2022 and currently reports over 15,000 active monthly wallets and a total value locked (TVL) exceeding $100 million, with an all-time high TVL of over $220 million in March of this year.
The Folks Finance team comprises 20 members, and Biondi plans to expand by hiring backend and frontend developers, and professionals focused on regional community growth.
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