Fintech startup Fordefi raises $18m seed round to launch institutional DeFi wallet and security platform

Fordefi, a financial technology and software company, announced a $18 million seed round and the public launch of its institutional MPC wallet built for transacting on decentralized applications (dApps).

Led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, the investors of the firm's initial capital raise also include Electric Capital, Alameda Research, Jump Crypto, Castle Island, Pantera Capital, Illuminate Financial, PayPal Alumni Fund, Nima Capital, Digital Currency Group, Defiance Capital and StarkWare.

Sam Harrison, Senior Advisor, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Managing Partner, Faction: "The Fordefi team is bringing to market a solution that addresses two of the biggest challenges in DeFi today: institutional-grade security and smart contract transparency. We are excited to support an experienced team bringing a powerful solution to market that directly solves pain points that have held institutions back from achieving the full potential of decentralized finance."

Ken Deeter, Partner, Electric Capital: "Wallet hacks made major headlines this year. Until now, decentralized finance was missing a secure, stable, and seamless way to connect to dApps. Fordefi's single-browser extension paired with a top-notch institutional grade MPC wallet platform will unlock opportunities across DeFi for all crypto-native institutions. We're excited to be part of Fordefi's journey, as an investor, design partner and customer." 

Co-founders Josh Schwartz, CEO, Dima Kogan, CTO, and Michael Volfman, Vice President of Research and Development, began developing the Fordefi platform in 2021, an unprecedented year for crypto adoption, as institutions took notice of the explosive growth and massive volumes of digital assets moved into the markets. A boom in the development of new blockchains and decentralized applications created opportunities for investing that institutions could not safely participate in, as available wallets had been designed years before and lacked the technology to securely and confidently connect them.

"Decentralized finance is evolving quickly and its complexities require a dynamic solution," said Schwartz. "Legacy wallet providers are unable to meet the needs of institutions that want to access the new opportunities DeFi has created while ensuring their assets are protected. Fordefi has taken a DeFi-first approach and has built a solution engineered for how clients interact with dApps."

"DeFi transactions are much more complex than simple asset transfers, and that's the key to DeFi's exciting new opportunities," said Kogan. "Unfortunately, this complexity also brings with it many new security risks. Fordefi enables institutions to interact with DeFi applications with increased operational efficiency and security through in-depth visibility into each transaction and the ability to set the right controls."

A first of its kind wallet and security platform, Fordefi enables market participants to easily and securely connect to decentralized applications. Fordefi's platform is the only institutional MPC wallet on the market built for firms transacting on decentralized applications across blockchains. The solution delivers a previously unavailable degree of insight into transactions, translating smart contracts into language that users can understand, simulating every transaction in advance and independently verifying dApp names. Its advanced MPC key management capabilities are built to protect against any single point of failure, and the platform's unique policy management capabilities offer users the ability to create and define their own workflows, proactively protecting themselves from both internal and external vulnerabilities. 

www.fordefi.com