PANews reported on June 4, citing The Block, that Avantis, a decentralized leveraged trading protocol based on the Base chain, announced the completion of an $8 million Series A funding round, co-led by Founders Fund and Pantera Capital, with participation from Symbolic Capital, SALT Fund, and Flowdesk. The core development team, led by Lumena Labs CEO Harsehaj Singh, stated that this funding round is expected to be completed by mid-2024, using a 'equity + token warrant' structure, but the post-funding valuation has not been disclosed. To date, Avantis has raised a total of $12 million.
Avantis launched in 2023 and has now become the largest derivatives protocol on the Base chain, with a cumulative trading volume exceeding $7.5 billion and over 60,000 users. The platform supports trading of real-world assets (RWA) such as cryptocurrencies, foreign exchange, and commodities, with plans to expand into stocks, sports, and prediction markets. To achieve this goal, Avantis will undergo technical upgrades, including transforming the AMM system to support multiple price sources and developing a customized EVM-compatible blockchain for zero Gas fee transactions. The platform's V2 version is expected to be launched in a few months, claiming to achieve a tenfold increase in capital efficiency and support cross-margin trading.