Participated · Equity · Jan 2024

Pontem develops Move and EVM-compatible infrastructure and developer tooling, including a Move VM platform that enables developers to build Move and EVM-based projects without relying on Solidity. Its product lineup includes Pontem Wallet for the Aptos ecosystem and the Liquidswap AMM DEX. Move, a language derived from Rust, and Pontem’s Move VM offer enhanced security and throughput via parallel processing. Pontem has deployed products on Aptos that have reached 40K weekly active users and Liquidswap has seen up to $1M in daily volume. The company is led by co-founder Alejo Pinto. Pontem plans to use new funding to build Move VM products on EVM-compatible blockchains and to support the launch of Move L2 Lumio, an Optimistic rollup on Ethereum that will leverage alternative L1s like Aptos to process transactions. Pontem builds a framework for decentralized applications to connect Facebook's Diem (permissioned) blockchain with public, permissionless platforms. The project focuses on enabling integrations with Polkadot, Ethereum and EOS to give developers access to broader liquidity, data and user bases. Pontem says this work will expose DeFi protocols and NFTs to Facebook's 2.7 billion users. The team previously advanced the project using in-house resources and views the new funding as a way to accelerate growth. Leadership changes accompanied the raise, including the addition of Alejo Pinto as chief growth officer. Co-founder Stas Oskin emphasized cross-chain interoperability as a core goal for the project.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2022

Hashflow is a decentralized exchange platform built for interoperability, zero slippage, and MEV-protected trades. It connects institutional market makers to traders via a request-for-quote (RFQ) model that guarantees price execution and optimizes for seamless interoperability and MEV protection. The company has launched bridgeless cross-chain swaps and says its model enables trading of structured products and asset classes previously impossible on DeFi rails. Hashflow plans to offer structured products on its platform in allowed jurisdictions later this year and has released a product roadmap for the rest of the year. Founded in San Francisco in 2021, Hashflow raised a $3.2M seed round in April 2021 and recently closed a $25M Series A that values it at $400M. The company says the new capital will let it continue building and scaling its product suite and support professional market makers and liquidity-maximization initiatives. Hashflow is a Santa Monica, Calif.-based decentralized exchange that connects DeFi traders with top crypto market makers, enabling traders to receive price quotes directly and broadcast trades on-chain using Web3 wallets. The platform launched a closed private alpha with market makers offering price quotes on Ethereum mainnet. Hashflow enables market makers to retain control of inventory and pricing by using bespoke pricing strategies bridged on-chain with digital signatures rather than deploying capital in public liquidity pools or relying on pre-defined pricing functions. The company closed a $3.2M seed round and plans to use the funds to expand development efforts. In the coming weeks Hashflow plans to integrate more market makers, add additional asset pairs that dominate on-chain trading volumes, and open the product to general audiences by the end of Q2.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2022

NFTGo is a one-stop NFT data analysis platform that provides NFT data analysis, transaction aggregation, and asset management services. The company recently launched data API and aggregator API solutions to extend its offerings. NFTGo describes itself as aiming to be the world's leading NFT data intelligence provider and to build a gateway for Web2 users to enter the NFT ecosystem. It also says it seeks to help Web3 users engage with NFTs more effectively and to benefit participants in trading and utilizing NFTs. NFTGo was founded in 2021 and positions its product suite around data intelligence and trading tools. The company has raised over $10 million in total investment to date. NFTGo.io operates an all-in-one NFT data analysis and aggregation platform that surfaces real-time NFT insights and a range of features including a search engine, data visualization, rarity scoring, whale tracking and NFT Drops. The company has developed a high-performance cross-chain data acquisition engine that monitors blockchains in real time and parses NFT metadata according to mainstream standards. NFTGo has introduced proprietary indicators such as liquidity, FOMO level and profit-and-loss metrics. The team is over 30 people with core members from Stanford, Harvard, Korea University and Zhejiang University. NFTGo plans to use recent funding to accelerate global hiring, add support for more blockchains and introduce additional data metrics and features. The company also published a 2022 NFT industry research report and distributed it via NFT minting.