Pantera-Backed Web3 Startup Fordefi Raises $18M for Institutional MPC Wallet - NFTgators

Quick take:

Fordefi has raised $18 million in a seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The web3 startup is building an institutional MPC wallet and gateway for web3 venture funding.
The fundraising also attracted participation from Pantera Capital, Jump Crypto, PayPal Alumni and DeFiance Capital, among others.

Fordefi has raised $18 million in a seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The web3 startup is building an institutional multi-party computation (MPC) wallet for transacting on decentralised apps.

The fundraising also attracted participation from Electric Capital, Alameda Research, Jump Crypto, Castle Island, Pantera Capital, Illuminate Financial, PayPal Alumni Fund, Nima Capital, Digital Currency Group, Defiance Capital and StarkWare.

The company wants to create a solution for venture funds looking to invest in decentralised apps. MPC technology is used to secure private keys that allow institutions to authorise the transfer of assets.

Fordefi MPC wallet provides a secure and seamless connection to decentralised apps across multiple chains.

The company was founded in 2021 by CEO Josh Schwartz, who previously worked as COO of digital asset security company Curv, CTO Dima Kogan, a former software engineer at Google, and Michael Volfman, Vice President of Research and Development.

Commenting on the fundraising, Josh Schwartz, CEO of Fordefi said: “Decentralized finance is evolving quickly and its complexities require a dynamic solution. 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 claims that its MPC wallet is the only one in the market built for firms transacting on multiple blockchains. This gives it an early advantage ahead of what appears to be an inevitable shift towards cross-chain interoperability.

Web3 companies have realised that one of the most crucial elements of onboarding masses to their platforms is by enabling cross-chain interoperability. This allows users to access and use their digital assets on multiple blockchains from NFT marketplaces to gaming platforms and metaverse worlds.

With most of these communities relying on institutional investors like gaming guilds (via in-game assets) and web3 VCs (token purchases) to accelerate the growth of their ecosystems, securing their assets with cross-chain MPC wallets becomes a necessity.

“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,” said Dima Kogan, CTO of Fordefi.

On the other hand, Jacob Goh, Head of Operations & Investor Relations at DeFiance Capital, Fordefi investor and design partner added: “[Fordefi] is extremely customizable and allows us to manage our own policies and controls, ensuring a balance between flexibility and security – crucial for liquid fund strategies.”

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