By
Benjamin Njiri
April 23rd, 2024
The funding round which involved several institutional investors brought to Electric Capital $110 million.
One of the companies working to bridge the gap between the crypto world and fintech is Electric Capital. The firm recently announced that it has raised more than $100 million in funding from investors. According to the release, Electric Capital is seeking opportunities in areas, including those related to blockchain, such as decentralized finance and Layer 1 protocol.
The funding round which involved several institutional investors raised $110 million for the Palo Alto-based fintech whose services in the crypto investment sphere include non-custodial exchanges such as Maker and Bitwise.
Electric Capital Supports Blockchain Initiatives
This round of funding came from undisclosed investors among whom is a university endowment. The firm plans to split the funds raised among startups in the blockchain industry which would receive grants ranging from $1 million to $6 million each.
The co-founder of the company Avichal Garg said that it is seeking to cover areas such as Layer 1 protocol and the decentralized ecosystem with the aim of bridging the cryptocurrency-fintech gap in the quest to disrupt relevant industries using lending instruments.
30% Already Engaged in Projects
Garg said that the company has already made investments in these fields, he highlighted that the fund is meant to expand its engagement in the cryptocurrency investment sphere. This vision has already reached an advanced stage as shown with the quick engagement of the fund which has already had 30% engaged in projects.
Since the 2017 ICO hype, most institutional investors have backed away from supporting startup fundings. This is gradually changing with the renewed interest in decentralized finance. The DeFi market which is all about non-custodial exchange has become very popular in recent times. Its market grew to $4 billion from $2 in weeks.
According to a recent posting in its blog, the firm said that early adopters have embrace DeFi due to its earning potential.
“Users have deployed hundreds of millions of dollars in leading DeFi protocols, while developers have embraced DeFi’s open and rich design space.”
Garg noted that the company is looking at community-owned markets or decentralized marketplace that I built on the blockchain as another area for investment. It is equivalent to having devices like Uber and Airbnb on the blockchain. He said that scaling infrastructure would make a whole lot of difference since what exists are not “scaled co-op”
There are other blockchain firms that are looking at similar opportunities. A new venture capital firm, Variant is one of them. Nevertheless, Garg said that the funding came at a crucial time in the coin market. He explained that the potentials they have seen for the industry are immense.
Other blockchain-related news can be read here.