DeFi Protocol Element Finance Raises $32M in Series A Round

Element Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) fixed rate protocol, closed a $32 million Series A funding round at a $320 million valuation, the DeFi project announced on Tuesday.

• Polychain Capital led the round. Previous investors Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Placeholder, A.Capital Ventures and Scalar Capital participated in the round, which also included new investors Republic, Advanced Blockchain, P2P Validator, Rarestone Capital and Ethereal Ventures.

• Element, which provides a yield-maximizing marketplace for crypto interest rates, will use the funds to expand its workforce, especially in the areas of engineering, research, user interface (UI) and design, the company said.

• “Fixed rates are a stepping stone for more participants to come into the world of DeFi, and we’re excited to play a role in that,” Element co-founder and CEO Will Villanueva said.

• “Element is a breakthrough financial primitive that has quickly become a cornerstone of DeFi, and soon we think will be a core piece of our global financial infrastructure,” Polychain Capital founder and CEO Olaf Carlson-Wee said.

• On June 30, Element Finance launched its open source protocol for fixed and variable yield markets. It has surpassed 9,000 active users and reached $70 million in trading volume and $180 million of total value locked, Element Finance said.

• In March, Element Finance raised $4.4 million from a16z and Placeholder.