Decentralised Crypto Exchange Brine Fi Bags $16.5 Mn Funding, Valued At $100 Mn

Decentralised crypto exchange (DEX) Brine Fi has raised $16.5 Mn in its Series A funding round, led by Pantera Capital, at a valuation of $100 Mn. 

The round also saw participation from Elevation Capital, Starkware, Spartan Group, Goodwater Capital, Upsparks Ventures, Protofund Ventures and other angel investors, Brine Fi said in a statement.

However, the startup did not specify where it would deploy the fresh funds. 

“… with Brine Fi we make it easy for institutions, centralised exchanges, HFT traders and retail users to reduce their counterparty risk and at the same time get the best price for their orders in the industry,” said Brine Fi cofounder and CEO Shaaran Lakshminarayanan.

Chiming in, Pantera Capital managing partner Paul Veradittakit said, “Brine tackles some of the most important challenges holding back institutional and mainstream user adoption in DeFi. There’s an urgent demand for a self-custodial execution layer that is faster, more reliable, user-friendly, and cost-effective.”

Founded in 2021 by Lakshminarayanan, Ritumbhara Bhatnagar and Bhavesh Praveen, Brine Fi is a crypto decentralised exchange targeted at institutions and high-frequency traders. The platform deploys StarkWare’s zkP (Zero Knowledge Proofs) technology which enables privacy on crypto trading positions (avoids frontrunning). 

It also claims to help users execute orders in milliseconds while remaining fully non-custodial. Brine Fi claims to have so far onboarded some of the world’s largest hedge funds, exchanges and high-frequency traders in the crypto space.

The fundraise comes weeks after Brine Fi debuted its orderbook platform which, as per the company, is processing monthly volumes of $300 Mn and is ranked among the top 10 DEXs globally. 

The fundraise comes at a time when centralised crypto exchanges have come under fire in the aftermath of the collapse of FTX. As a result, a host of traders have veered towards DEXs, seeking to safeguard their portfolios. Brine Fi aims to capture the burgeoning decentralised exchange market, which continues to be plagued by issues such as cumbersome user interface, frontrunning and limited support. 

Meanwhile, the crypto ecosystem has been hit by regulatory red tape and wary investors who have been spooked by the collapse of crypto exchanges. This has led to a fall in crypto volumes even as nations across the globe move to tighten the noose around these virtual currencies as instances of money laundering via cryptos rise. 

While the Indian government has been batting for a global framework to regulate cryptocurrencies, Indian crypto startups have been struggling amid funding winter and adverse market conditions. Recently, homegrown crypto exchanges CoinDCX and CoinSwitch laid off a portion of their workforce even as many other similar platforms are experimenting with new business models. 

With Sequoia Capital recently slashing its crypto fund by more than 65% to about $200 Mn, a slew of other allied players have emerged in the crypto space to leverage the booming web3 economy. As much unfolds in the crypto ecosystem, the fundraise by Brine Fi has come as a much needed respite for the space which has been mired in controversies lately.