The company behind the development of the Ethereum-based decentralized exchange, Uniswap Labs, recently announced the successful completion of a Series B. The funding round managed to raise $165 million to expand the adoption of the protocol and “bring Web3 to everyone”.
The popular decentralized exchange (DEX), Uniswap, is one of the most important platforms in the Ethereum ecosystem. In 2020, when the total value locked (TVL) of the largest DeFi protocols was barely above $10 billion, the protocol airdropped its native token UNI and fueled a craze dubbed “DeFi Summer”.
Now, the company behind the protocol will use the funds to create “simpler, safer user experiences” to onboard more users to DeFi and Web3. When the UNI token was launched and sent to every user that ever interacted with its smart contract, institutions and people around the world realized the potential for these platforms to revolutionize the world.
After the UNI boom, people got interested in DeFi, and later in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their different applications. This wave of adoption finally drove crypto from the underground of the blockchain space to the mainstream and to a TVL of over $30 billion at its all-time high.
The $165 million raised in Series B surpassed expectations. As Bitcoin reported two weeks ago, the company was looking to raise at least $100 million at a $1 billion valuation from major players in the crypto industry.
Including Paradigm Venture Capital, SV Angel, Variant, Union Polychain Capital, and a16z. The company wants to make Uniswap a “universal protocol” and take user ownership to the next level. Hayden Adams, the inventor of the protocol, wrote the following about their newest funding round:
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!
5/ We are incredibly grateful for the support from our extraordinary community, users, team, and investors. This funding round was led by @PolychainCap, with participation from our longtime investors @a16z crypto, @Paradigm, @SVAngel, and @VariantFund 💖
— Uniswap Labs 🦄 (@Uniswap) October 13, 2022
Uniswap Labs Overhaul Website, Ready To Become “Universal Protocol”
In the past months, Uniswap has celebrated important milestones such as crossing $1.2 trillion in all-time trading volume and launching the Uniswap Foundation. Approved by UNI holders, the organization was created to support and help grow the protocol’s ecosystem.
In addition, the company behind the protocol has already begun improving key components, like its web app. The new features will provide users with access to more data, market and price discovery, and search options to optimize the process of swapping ERC-20 tokens.
These improvements were implemented with the objective of turning the Ethereum DEX into a “universal protocol”, a one-stop-shop for trading, creating markets, liquidity pools, and more. The team behind the protocol said:
These new features mean that you don’t have to go from site to site in order to DYOR (Do Your Own Research) and trade — our web app is a one-stop shop for research, details, and swapping.
