Framework Labs, which is associated with the investment firm Framework Ventures, has recently socked away roughly $8 million thanks a new seed funding round led by some of the biggest names in the industry. Among the companies to take part in the funding round are Station 13.
Framework Labs Is Taking DeFi to a New Level
As a branch of Framework Ventures, Framework Labs is operated by Michael Anderson and Vance Spencer. The company is seeking to increase investors’ knowledge of the DeFi (decentralized finance) industry, which has grown exponentially over the past few months with the expansive growth of Chainlink (LINK) and similar coins.
Decentralized finance seeks to bring financial independence to users. Unlike traditional banks or institutions, which are largely controlled by a single entity or body, decentralized finance is more in the hands of customers rather than executives. Both men state that while this arena has surged in size and scope, there are still many that know little or nothing about it, and they’re looking to change all this.
In a recent interview, Spencer explained:
DeFi is coming into its own and beginning to achieve product-market fit at scale, yet traditional investors are asleep at the wheel when it comes to the category. It isn’t enough to buy and hold tokens and provide ‘thought leadership’ – DeFi is not a spectator sport. Active participation, governance, building of consumer products and advanced trading strategies are all part of the complex process of making a DeFi protocol successful. We are at the bleeding edge of this financial technology.
Among the company’s present plans is the creation of various startups, provision liquidity, and to provide staking to customers. The company is also looking into the development of several apps.
Staking has grown in popularity over the past several months given that it offers crypto holders a chance to earn interest on their stashes. Framework Ventures has already made a massive mark in the staking world in that it is the largest company devoted to the staking of the Synthetix protocol.
Growing the Team
The company is also looking to bring on several fresh faces to assist in operations including Ray Pulver, former co-founder and CTO of IDEX, a decentralized trading exchange. Roy Learner – former principal at Wavemaker Partners – will work to build the company’s already steadily-growing team. Anderson says:
Ray is one of the top five to ten Solidity engineers, co-founder of IDEX, and just brilliant when it comes to anything Ethereum. Roy is a unique talent when it comes to being able to understand the trading strategies and market-making capabilities, but he also has a venture capability that is sort of unrivaled, so we saw a lot of potential in both of them.
Both Anderson and Spencer agree that the DeFi space is young enough that their company can ultimately serve as one of its largest contributors.