Aperture Finance Raises Series A at $250M Fully Diluted Valuation to Build Intent-Based Architecture for DeFi
$APTR Native platform token scheduled for release on May 31, 2024
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Aperture FinanceDecentralized Finance (DeFi) platform, pioneering AI-powered Intent, has raised a Series A funding round, bringing its total funding raised across the board to $12 million and valuing the project at $250 million. The round was led by top venture capital firms including Skyland Ventures, Blockchain Founders Fund and Krypital Group, with participation from notable investors including Alchemy, SNZ, Stratified Capital, Tide, Cipholio, ViaBTC, CatcherVC and Double Peak. Previous rounds included participation from ParaFi Capital, Arrington Capital, Divergence, Blockchain Founders Fund, Laser Digital (Nomura Group), Skyland Ventures, Costanoa, Rarestone, Krypital Group, Big Brain Holdings, LD Capital, ViaBTC, Cipholio, Double Peak, Athena Ventures, Coinseeker, Artemis Capital and AWS.
Ex-Google team raises $250M valuation to build intent-based architecture for DeFi
Aperture Finance is innovating with the use of Intents, a new approach designed to streamline complex DeFi operations. Unlike traditional transaction methods, Intents allow users to specify their desired outcome, simplifying and increasing accessibility when interacting with DeFi protocols. The innovative system leverages Uniswap V3, allowing users to declare end goals, such as liquidity rebalancing at a specific price point, and transactions will only be executed if these conditions are met. The platform is already live on nine EVM-compatible chains, with over 280,000 unique users and 15,000 daily active users, and has processed over $2.7 billion in transaction volume.
“Intent Architecture bridges the gap between sophisticated financial strategies and everyday DeFi users,” said Yonkuro, head of cryptocurrency at Skyland Ventures. “By allowing users to express their financial goals in natural language, Aperture makes advanced DeFi tools accessible to a wide range of users, from retail investors to institutions.”
The platform's decentralized network of solvers calculates optimal transaction flows and ranks them by simulating them with Aperture's smart contracts. Initially launched with centralized solvers, the network has expanded to third-party solvers such as Propeller Heads and Enso Finance, with others such as Tokka Labs due to join in Q3 2024.
Aperture plans to further leverage its Large Language Model (LLM) interface, which translates user intent expressed in natural language into a Domain Specific Language (DSL) that can be codified on-chain. This functionality aims to ensure clarity and precision in user instructions, further democratizing access to complex financial products.
“Aperture Finance is focused on shortening the learning curve for DeFi and giving our users more strategic options,” said Peter Tan, head of product at Aperture Finance. “Our goal is to make DeFi more inclusive and effective, offering the same level of execution and pricing typically only available to larger institutions.”
The new funding will support the development of Aperture's Intents infrastructure, expansion of the solver network, and improving user experience with upcoming LLM integration. The investment underscores the growing confidence in Aperture Finance's potential to transform the DeFi landscape.
Following a successful airdrop campaign which saw over 300,000 users participate, Aperture Finance plans to release $APTR tokens on Bybit on May 31st, 2024.
About Aperture Finance
Aperture Finance is a pioneer in AI-powered Intents to enhance the DeFi experience. Aperture's native solver network with IntentsGPT interface and AI-driven smart solver simulation provides institutional-grade intelligence to every DeFi user. Bringing together the brightest minds in technology and finance, the founding team includes alumni from Amazon Web Services, Google, Stanford University, Cornell University, UC Berkeley, Citadel, JP Morgan Chase, and AIG. Aperture is a cohort member of Binance Labs' Most Valuable Builder V and has participated in the CoinMarketCap (CMC) Accelerator and HK Cyberport Incubation Programs.
Source: Aperture Finance
