Cryptocurrencies

DeFi Social Trading Platform Nested Raises $7.5 Million

A DeFi platform that aims to add a social element to crypto trading has just garnered itself some investments. This week, Nested announced that it recently closed a $7.5 million round. The Series A was led by Alan Howard with Republic Capital, Kenetic Capital, CMT Digital, and a number of angel investors. Among these indivials investors were former Polychain Capital president Joseph Eagan, Earn co-founder Lily Liu, and Blackpool founder Julien Bouteloup.

Nested describes itself as an “all-in-one DeFi social trading platform.” In addition to allowing users to build, track, and trade token portfolios, the site takes things a step further by minting portfolios as NFTs — or “NestedNFTs.” These NFTs can be discovered on the platform or shared by creators. When other users copy a given portfolio, the creator earns a royalty.

Commenting on Nested and what the company aims to accomplish, founder Rudy Kadoch stated, “The vision of Nested is to hybridize traditional finance, decentralized finance, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies to forge a financial product that is both powerful and unique: the Nested portfolio. This is a tradeable, shareable, and replicable portfolio that can be managed and monetized by advanced and novice crypto investors alike.” Kadoch continued, “By offering an easy-to-use, user-oriented trading experience and cultivating a community of investors that share knowledge, we aim to democratize access to decentralized finance and facilitate financial connectivity for all.”

Explaining why his firm chose to invest in Nested, Republic Capital co-managing partner Adrew Durgee said, “Republic Capital backed Nested because we are thrilled to see such a mature product with a UX that is primed for ease. We believe that Nested is ready to be used out of the box and geared for adoption.”

Of course, Nested’s Series A comes as crypto and DeFi startups have proven to be hot commodities for venture capital firms — including many early-stage companies. For example, crypto payments service Cion Digital recently closed a $12 million seed round while the portfolio tool Stacked raised a $35 million Series A in December. At the same, more established players have seen some massive mega-rounds, such as Gemini’s $400 million raise late last year (which was actually a Series A since the company had previously not sought outside investment).

To some, Nested’s crypto portfolio NFTs may seem like a gimmick on top of gimmicks. However, investors apparently see things a bit differently, hence the startup’s solid Series A. With the platform now launched, it’s time for Nested to prove its concept and see which of these two camps turns out to be right.

Other Articles by Jonathan Dyer