DeFi startup Davos raises $500k pre-seed round from Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon Ventures

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and Polygon Ventures have invested $500,000 in Davos - a new Decentralised Finance (DeFi) protocol - in its pre-seed funding round.

It will introduce a new, novel stable crypto asset as well as collateralised borrowing and staking for MATIC tokens. In exchange, users receive equal value in liquid staking token ankrMATIC, and can then repay loans and earn the stable assets, the company said in a statement.

The stable assets - which will be known as DAVOS - can be integrated into other protocols, pools and Decentralised Exchanges, it added. DAVOS is also enabled with features to achieve cross-chain operability, and also across various crypto pools. This will help the startup tap into automated farming yields and possibly generate higher compounding returns to users, Davos said.

It achieves this by introducing a novel stable asset in tandem with collateralised borrowing and staking. Users can collateralise their MATIC tokens, receiving an equal-in-value liquid staking token ankrMATIC, borrow against their staked MATIC, repay their loan and earn DAVOS Stable Assets and integrate them into other protocols, DEXs, and pools.

"The overarching goal of Davos is to allow users to get exposure to multiple DeFi protocols, platforms, and pools all the while unlocking the liquidity of their staked assets. The creation of a new Stable Asset – ‘DAVOS’ – will serve as a means to incentivise participation and adoption and enable crypto holders to become a part of a new decentralised economy of scale," said Varun Satyam, Founder and CEO, Davos.

Recently, the total value locked (TVL) across DeFi has dropped to around $41 billion from all time highs of around $180 billion in late 2021. Despite the 77% drop, Polygon Ventures and Sandeep Nailwal have been actively investing in and mentoring Web3 startups.

In the past few weeks, Polygon Ventures has written checks to the likes of Arrakis - a decentralised multichain market-making protocol - and luxury fashion tech platform SYKY.

About a month ago, Sandeep launched Beacon - a Web3 accelerator that aims to finance and mentor early stage Web3 projects.

With this new investment in Davos, Polygon Ventures and Sandeep Nailwal are taking a bet on the startup's goal to build an ecosystem around easier access to stable assets, liquid staking, and collateralised borrowing and lending.

Davos has reportedly merged with another protocol, Sikka, to double its community size and exposure to crypto liquidity.

Disclaimer: This copy has been updated to correct a typo.