Uniswap Labs raises $165M to 'bring Web3 to everyone'
The Series B round was led by Polychain Capital, along with participation from longtime investors—a16z crypto, Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant.
Uniswap Labs, the creator of (a leading decentralised exchange for trading and automated liquidity provision on Ethereum), today announced it has raised $165 million in Series B funding to "bring Web3 to everyone."
The round is led by Polychain Capital, along with participation from longtime investors—a16z crypto, Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant.
What is Uniswap? Here are the basics of the most popular decentralised exchange (DEX)
What is Uniswap?
Uniswap is a decentralised exchange (DEX) running on the Ethereum blockchain, allowing users to swap cryptocurrency tokens in a decentralised manner.
Traders can swap Ethereum tokens and Ethereum-based tokens on Uniswap without trusting any party with their funds. Users can also lend their tokens to Uniswap’s liquidity pools and earn fees in exchange.
Currently, Uniswap V3 supports over 45% of the total global decentralised exchange trading volume, as per data from DeFiLlama and CoinMarketCap, making it the market leader in the DEX segment.
More about the fundraise
Earlier this month, it was reported the New York-headquartered firm was in talks with investors to raise $100 million capital at a valuation of $1 billion. As per a TechCrunch report, the $165 million fundraise values Uniswap at $1.66 billion.
In a blog confirming the news, Uniswap Founder and CEO Hayden Adams said,
"As Uniswap Labs focuses on products, a much broader ecosystem continues to grow and thrive beyond what any one company can do on their own. As an example, the governance community recently voted to create the Uniswap Foundation, which will contribute to the Protocol’s decentralized development and give at least $60 million in grants to community projects over the next few years.:
He added that when he built the Uniswap Protocol in 2018, it was an experiment to see if he could create a product that was transparent, secure, and accessible.
"Since then, it has grown and evolved in ways I never imagined. It’s supported $1.2 trillion in trading volume to date and has become critical public infrastructure for exchanging digital value," he added.
Earlier this year, in April, Uniswap Labs launched UniSwap Labs Ventures—focusing on investing in Web3 startups developing consumer-facing apps, developer tools, and blockchain infrastructure.
Uniswap joined a growing number of crypto-native businesses that are now formally committing funds to invest in other startups in the sector, such as DeFi protocol Cake and cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Uniswap has also invested in 11 firms including Tenderly, LayerZero, MakerDAO, Aave, Compound Protocol, and PartyDAO.
Edited by Kanishk Singh
