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, and Scalar Capital participated in the round, which also included new investors Republic, Advanced Blockchain, P2P Validator, Rarestone and Ethereal Ventures.

• Element will use the funds to expand its workforce, especially in the areas of engineering, research, UI, and design, the DeFi project 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.