GRVT raised $5 million, bringing total funding to $14.3 million, aiming for global expansion, new services, and team growth.
GRVT, a crypto exchange built on ZKsync, has raised $5 million in funding. The round was led by Further Ventures, a firm backed by Abu Dhabi’s ADQ. GRVT raised the funds through an equity round held from October to December 2023.
According to The Block, GRVT’s earlier pre-seed and seed rounds included token warrants. However, with Further Ventures, equity was chosen to retain the GRVT token for the community and allow the company to expand into new business areas. The funding round has brought GRVT’s total capital to $14.3 million, which includes $7.1 million from earlier rounds and $2.2 million from a private token sale in March 2024, according to CEO Hong Yea.
Last month, the exchange launched its mainnet alpha on the Ethereum Layer 2 network ZKsync, starting with crypto perpetual trading. It now sees an average daily trading volume of $50 million, with 800 active traders and 55 institutional clients. Additionally, more than 32,000 users have completed KYC verification.
Expansion Plans Include Spot and Options Trading, Global Licenses
The CEO announced that the exchange aims to introduce spot and options trading this year using the new funding. It also plans to upgrade its “modified” Class M Bermuda crypto license to a full Class F license and seek regulatory approvals in various regions, including the MiCA license in the EU, a Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority license, and a capital markets license in Abu Dhabi’s ADGM. The report stated:
“With fresh funding in place, GRVT plans to expand into crypto spot and options trading this year. It also plans to upgrade its “modified” Class M Bermuda crypto business license to a full Class F license and pursue regulatory approvals in other jurisdictions, including the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license in the European Union, a Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority license in Dubai and a capital markets license in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).”
GRVT Achieves $75 Million in 24-Hour Trading Volume
In addition to securing funding, GRVT expanded its team from 19 to 52 members last year and plans to hire for product and engineering positions. The company also intends to introduce its token later this year.
GRVT recently added nine new trading pairs to its platform, including ZK, SOL, BNB, ARB, OP, TON, POL, ATOM, and PEPE. The exchange announced on its X page on January 3 that it had reached a new milestone with a 24-hour trading volume of $75 million.
9 new trading pairs NOW LIVE on GRVT
You can now trade:$ZK, $SOL, $BNB, $ARB, $OP, $TON, $POL, $ATOM, & $PEPE (kPEPE)
Trade, generate fees, and earn Trader Points
▶️ Start here: https://t.co/K8umxKDh1U
▶️ Info on Trader Rewards: https://t.co/kbdkH5ABhb pic.twitter.com/BYYveWE1n6— GRVT (@grvt_io) January 15, 2025
Further Ventures had previously led a $16 million round for Dfns, a crypto wallet technology firm whose tools GRVT uses, before investing in GRVT. The firm has also backed Twinstake, Tungsten, Kemet Trading, and Fuze.
The managing partner at Further Ventures, Mohamed Hamdy, told The Block that the firm oversees $200 million in assets. He also mentioned that GRVT’s focus on compliance and self-custody aims to bridge the gap between DeFi and traditional finance, potentially driving greater crypto adoption.
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