Participated · Equity · Jun 2021

Composable Finance is a Berlin-based DeFi company that builds a hyper liquidity infrastructure layer for DeFi assets powered by Layer 2 Ethereum and Polkadot. Its core product is a development and execution environment that deploys orchestration logic to enable ecosystem-agnostic, decentralized cross-blockchain communication. Composable has procured parachains on Polkadot (Composable Parachain) and Kusama (Picasso Parachain) and developed Mosaic (a transfer-availability layer), Centauri (an IBC Substrate bridge to the Cosmos ecosystem), and Pablo (a decentralized exchange on Picasso). Future capabilities include cross-chain computing via a cross-chain virtual machine (XCVM) and a Routing Layer to let smart contracts span multiple ecosystems and support institutional throughput. The company raised $32M in a Series A and intends to use the proceeds to expand the team and build products for the blockchain and Web3 industry. Named team members include Rob Zhuang (Head of Operations), Zain Awan (CMO), and Karel Kubat (CTO). Composable Finance develops interoperable DeFi primitives and tooling on Substrate to enable cross-chain applications across Polkadot, Kusama and other ecosystems (it has also built a bridging primitive, Centauri, for the Cosmos-verse). The project operates an incubation arm, Composable Labs, which is launching native protocols such as Instrumental Finance, Arturo, Angular Finance and Bribe on its Picasso parachain, and has introduced products including Mosaic, Centauri and Mural. Composable emphasizes blockchain-agnostic infrastructure and first-mover positioning in DotSama while continuing to expand its developer tooling and SDK to drive interoperability. The team has grown development headcount by over 30% in the prior three months, underscoring active hiring and product buildout. Financially, the protocol secured significant auction financing via native token contributions and has supported spinouts (for example, Bribe closed a $4M private financing round). Composable was incubated by Advanced Blockchain AG and works closely with that firm through Composable Labs to source and scale new projects. Composable Finance is building infrastructure to enable cross-chain and cross-layer interoperability within decentralized finance. Advanced Blockchain AG and Rarestone Capital helped incubate the project, providing technical incubation and intellectual property support. Advanced Blockchain invested $2 million via a subsidiary and led a $7 million funding round that closed at a $35 million valuation. As compensation, Advanced Blockchain will receive 5.7 million Composable tokens (of a 100 million total supply) and a share of fees from Composable's intended Polkadot parachain; it may also use the parachain for its own projects. The funding is intended to advance Composable's infrastructure and to support its bid for a Polkadot parachain slot in the summer 2021 auction. Other participants in the round included Divergence Ventures, New Form Capital, DFG, Maven 11, 4SV, Hypersphere Ventures, Blockchain Capital, PNYX Ventures, CMS Holdings, Alameda Research, SOSV, Spartan Group, LedgerPrime, LongHash Ventures, Cluster, and Pluto Digital Assets.

Participated · Equity · May 2021

CoinBurp is a London, UK-based cryptocurrency trading platform led by CEO and co-founder Peter Wood. The platform is designed to let users get in and out of DeFi, hold and trade NFTs, stake for an APY and earn NFTs. It combines CeFi and DeFi functionality in a single app, offers fiat capabilities and direct-to-market access for major NFT marketplaces. CoinBurp raised $2M in its first private funding round. The company intends to use the funds to continue building its platform.