Folks Finance Secures $3.2 Million in Series A Funding

Folks Finance, a cross-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, has raised $3.2 million in a Series A funding round, elevating its valuation to $75 million.

Funding Details

Borderless Capital led the round, with contributions from Algorand Ventures, Mapleblock Capital, Sovo Ventures, and others, as announced by Folks Finance on Thursday. Although $3.2 million is seen as a relatively modest Series A, the round was described as "oversubscribed." According to co-founder and CEO Benedetto Biondi, the firm initially targeted to raise $2 million at a $50 million valuation but exceeded expectations due to significant investor interest.

Round Breakdown

The first half of the funding, amounting to $2 million, was secured in February 2023, with the remaining $1.2 million gathered more recently. While Biondi declined to comment on the specific structure of the round, he noted that the $75 million valuation accounts for both equity valuation and token fully diluted valuation (FDV), hinting at a future token launch for Folks Finance.

With this Series A funding, Folks Finance has raised a total of $6.2 million. Previously, it collected $3 million in a seed round from investors, including Coinbase Ventures, Jump Crypto, OKX Ventures, and ParaFi Capital.

What is Folks Finance?

Folks Finance is a cross-chain DeFi platform featuring its xChain app, which enables users to lend, borrow, trade, and manage digital assets across various blockchains, including Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Avalanche, and BNB Chain.

Technical Features

The platform employs Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), Wormhole, and Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), allowing users to deposit assets on one blockchain and borrow on another. Biondi indicated that the central hub for Folks Finance’s cross-chain protocol is Avalanche. Although earlier versions of the platform were built on Algorand, this blockchain has been removed from the cross-chain V3 integration. Still, the platform is compatible with both EVM and non-EVM chains, with plans to expand support for networks like Linea, Polygon, Optimism, and ZKsync.

Folks Finance launched in 2022 and currently operates with over 15,000 active monthly wallets and a total value locked (TVL) surpassing $100 million, peaking at over $220 million in TVL in March 2023.

The Folks Finance team consists of 20 members. Biondi aims to grow the team by hiring backend and frontend developers and professionals focused on regional community growth.

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