Parallel Finance, a Polkadot-based lending and staking protocol, has announced a $5 cardinal strategical backing circular astatine a $500 cardinal valuation, doubly that of its token round past November. Investors included Coinbase (COIN), StarkWare and Section 32, a task superior steadfast founded by the erstwhile caput of Google Ventures.
During the 2nd quarter, Parallel Finance plans to rise a Series B circular successful 2 tranches of $20 cardinal to $30 cardinal each astatine an undetermined valuation, CEO Yubo Ruan told CoinDesk successful an interview.
Earlier this month, Parallel Finance launched a “super app” bundle of six products successful a bid to go a one-stop store for DeFi solutions. The archetypal motorboat included solutions related to crypto wallets, staking, crowdloans, cross-chain bridges, automated marketplace making and output farming.
The strategical backing volition assistance Parallel Finance grow its ace app connected the Polkadot ecosystem and beyond. The absorption volition beryllium connected probe and development, merchandise expansion, idiosyncratic basal maturation and expanding the full worth locked (TVL) connected the protocol.
“We presently person astir $700 cardinal to $800 cardinal TVL,” said Ruan. “We program to summation that to $2 cardinal to $3 cardinal successful the coming quarter.”
Parallel Finance is funny successful moving with strategical capitalist Coinbase connected its ecosystem enlargement and bundle plans, said Ruan. The protocol besides plans to physique connected StarkWare’s StarkNet, a furniture 2 merchandise addressing Ethereum’s cardinal scalability issues of dilatory velocity and precocious transaction fees. Section 32 brings imaginable collaborations to the array arsenic the steadfast moves to put much successful Web 3 projects.
Parallel Finance has plans to grow its ace app beyond the Polkadot ecosystem, initially with Ethereum. There are besides plans to grow into the non-fungible token (NFT) abstraction by supporting NFTs arsenic collateral connected the lending protocol.
“The NFT holder tin get entree to a recognition enactment oregon get entree to superior they tin get without having to merchantability to get liquidity,” said Ruan.
Asked astir the ample summation successful valuation since November, Ruan noted that Parallel Finance has grown from astir 10 to 20 employees since past August to 70. The steadfast has besides launched 7 products since the protocol was founded little than a twelvemonth ago.
“I deliberation maturation and traction person helped america summation the valuation,” explained Ruan. “It’s besides astir our semipermanent plans astir however to bring DeFi to wide adoption.”
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