Uniswap Secures $165M Funding at $1.66 Valuation in Series B

Ethereum-based largest cryptocurrency exchange Uniswap announced securing fresh funding on Thursday, October 13. As per the report, the Uniswap decentralized exchange raised a staggering $165 million in its Series B funding round led by Polychain Capital.

Uniswap said that the recent fundraising values the decentralized exchange at $1.66 billion. The good thing about the funding is that it comes at a time of crypto winter. This year’s crypto market collapse has significantly slowed down the VC money flowing into the market. Furthermore, the global macro uncertainty has made it even more difficult for crypto firms to raise funds.

VC investments in crypto tanked by more than 37% in September year-over-year to $4.4 billion. This is the lowest in a year’s time. As per reports, Uniswap was actively working over the last few months to raise funds.

In addition to Polychain Capital, some of the other backers in Series B include a16z crypto, Paradigm, SV Angel and Variant. Decentralized exchange Uniswap alone commands more than 60% of all DEXs volume. Despite the market slowdown, the exchange’s protocol still pegs a market cap of more than $5 billion.

Working on More Products

Uniswap Labs stated that they have plans to add several new products to their offering. One of the company’s new offerings will allow customers to trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the decentralized exchange. Some people familiar with the matter also confirmed that Uniswap is working on its own wallet. The official announcement from Uniswap reads:

“Now, Uniswap Labs is bringing the powerful simplicity and security that has defined the Uniswap Protocol to even more people across the world by investing in our web app and developer tools, launching NFTs, moving into mobile – and more! As Uniswap Labs focuses on products, a much broader ecosystem continues to grow and thrive beyond what any one company can do on their own. As an example, the governance community recently voted to create the Uniswap Foundation, which will contribute to the Protocol’s decentralized development and give at least $60 million in grants to community projects over the next few years”.

The recent funding for Uniswap is one of the largest fundings in Series B for a crypto firm this year.