DeFi Platform Thetanuts Raises $17 Million
Williamsburg, Va.-based Thetanuts Finance, a so-called decentralized finance, or DeFi, firm that builds structured products to optimize risk-adjusted yields, has raised $17 million in a round led by San Francisco’s Polychain Capital, Singapore-based Hyperchain Capital and Dutch firm Magnus Capital.
The fund-raise came a year after the startup raised $18 million in a round led by collapsed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, crypto options exchange Deribit (Panama), QCP Capital (Singapore) and Chicago-based Jump Crypto. Three Arrows was driven into the ground on account of its exposure to Terra, a crypto network that collapsed last May.
Founded in 2021 by a team of programmers, hedge fund managers and financial analysts, Thetanuts creates financial crypto products for ordinary investors. Its key products — Theta-Index and Theta-Wheel — are seen as a first of their kind, enabling easy access structured crypto products.
Altcoins Options
“The newly onboarded strategic investors will support Thetanuts Finance’s ambition to push the boundaries for structured products and derivatives in decentralized finance,” the company said in a blog post. “With their backing, we strive to forge valuable partnerships with prominent L1/L2 projects and founders, liquidity providers, foundations, market makers and major exchanges.”
Thetanuts is “leading the way in building a thriving altcoin options market for both budding and established ecosystems across different chains, including non-EVMs,” Sherwin Lee, the company’s adviser, said in a press release, referring to Ethereum Virtual Machines.
Among other things, Thetanuts plans to launch a buy-side altcoin options market powered by decentralized options vaults, which it expects will broaden the options market. It also plans to use the funding to create new partnerships with Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks, liquidity providers, blockchain foundations, market makers and exchanges.
What Theranuts’ Backers Say
San Francisco-based Polychain has raised $175 million via three funds. It has made nearly 200 portfolio investments and exited seven. Polychain’s recent investments include Berachain, Polyhedra Network, Cubist, Scroll.io, Really and Space ID.
“Functional derivatives are a key component of a healthy financial market. We are excited to back Thetanuts Finance in its mission to bring net new, foundational core products to the decentralized options market,” said Josh Rosenthal, portfolio manager at Polychain Capital.
“Thetanuts Finance continues to bring innovative financial products to the options market and we are thrilled to support their vision of becoming the leading altcoin options market player in the evolving multichain world,” said Hyperchain Capital CEO Stelian Balta.
“We at Magnus Capital are incredibly excited about Thetanuts Finance’s vision to revolutionize the altcoin options market through their innovative Decentralized Options Vaults,” said Ken Bassig, head of venture at Magnus Capital. “Their commitment to pushing the boundaries of DeFi and expanding accessibility to diverse asset classes aligns perfectly with our own mission.”
