Cardano DeFi Ecosystem Builder AdaSwap Raises $2.6M In Funding from Leading VCs and Top Angel Investors

AdaSwap, an ecosystem builder that will establish one of the first DeFi protocols on the Cardano network, has announced today that it has raised $2.6 million in a round of funding led by iAngels. Shima Capital, Pluto Digital, GBV, Stardust, Efficient Frontier, Finova, Banter Capital, and Coti have also participated in the round. Notable angel investors including the actress and producer Gal Gadot, and producer Jaron Varsano, also participated in the round.

AdaSwap will use the funding to deliver on its goal of building the best decentralized exchange on Cardano, one of the most popular blockchain projects for decentralized application developers. The AdaSwap DEX will go hand in hand with other protocols coming out of AdaSwap like it’s 1st of a kind exclusive NFT marketplace that will be home to curated collections and famous artists in the space. Cardano’s native token ADA is currently ranked as the 6th most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap, but despite this is still in its early stages of a DeFi ecosystem, meaning users must rely on centralized exchanges to buy, sell and swap Cardano tokens.

AdaSwap is creating a native, gamified Cardano DEX that will enable users to seamlessly swap Cardano-based tokens. Its plans also include the creation of a Cardano-native NFT marketplace and decentralized finance capabilities such as staking and fixed, long-term and high-yield liquidity pools. Through these applications, DEX users will be able to stake tokens, buy and sell NFTs and earn interest on their Cardano tokens. To build a better financial ecosystem, AdaSwap will take the focus away from higher liquidity locks to what really matters: users.

"We invested in Adaswap because we believe in the team, it's mission, and its tech roadmap. The future of finance is digital and projects like Adaswap will facilitate financial freedom and democratization for the masses. We're excited to join this journey and look forward to a future of innovation with the Adaswap team,"

said iAngels in a statement.

“We are delighted to be an early supporter of AdaSwap. We believe the team will be able to adapt and build a leading decentralized exchange native to Cardano to increase DeFi usage,"

GBV Capital.

Key to AdaSwap’s ambition is its native cryptocurrency token $ASW, which will help to power various functions within the Cardano ecosystem. ASW is a Cardano-native token and is interchangeable with all other Cardano-based tokens. Holders will be able to swap these tokens freely on AdaSwap DEX, leveraging arbitrage opportunities in real-time while benefiting from its Free Financial Model, where no transaction fees are charged on ASW based transactions.

"This is one of our first and greatest accomplishments towards building a new financial ecosystem that will have a great impact on our world. The AdaSwap team is really excited to move forward with our project backed by the best investors from both technical and commercial backgrounds. We would like to thank all our partners and advisors for supporting us to this point and we can not wait to show the world what we have done,"

AdaSwap Co-Founder Itay Levy said in a statement.

“This is an exciting investment opportunity for us in the crypto space,"

Gal Gadot and Jaron Varsano added in a joint statement.

With its first-mover advantage on Cardano, AdaSwap will create a micro-ecosystem that will enable others to develop and use the Cardano blockchain and help it to realize its game-changing potential.

"Although Cardano has been a top ten protocol by market cap for many years, there is still massive upside in its ecosystem that only recently launched composable smart contracts for developers. We at Shima Capital believe Aaron and the Adaswap team are well positioned to create core building blocks of the ADA ecosystem starting with a native DEX that can handle trades, swaps and bridges. We are excited to support Adaswap on its journey to tap into the massive liquidity currently locked in the Cardano protocol,"

said Yida Gao, General Partner at Shima Capital.