UNI Jumped 6% as Uniswap Labs Secures a $165 Million Fundraiser

The team behind the decentralized exchange – Uniswap Labs – raised $165 million in a Series B funding round, which will be allocated for NFT investments and developer tools.

Shortly after the announcement, Uniswap’s native token – UNI – spiked by nearly 6%.

Uniswap’s Latest Fundraiser

Per a recent announcement, the multi-million initiative was led by prominent names in the financial field, including Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), SV Angel, Paradigm, and Variant. As a result, Uniswap Labs’ valuation surged to approximately $1.66 billion.

CEO Hayden Adams said the entity will use the funds to invest in its web application and developer tools as well as launch NFTs.

“I’m so grateful for the support of our incredible community, users, investors, and team. And I can’t wait to share more in the months ahead,” the executive stated.

In addition, Adams revealed that the recently established Uniswap Foundation (an organization that oversees the development of the DEX) will give at least $60 million in grants to community projects over the next few years.

The native cryptocurrency of Uniswap Labs – UNI – reacted positively to the news with an immediate price increase of 6%. Similar to numerous other digital assets, though, it is in red compared to the figures 24 hours ago.

The Past Several Months for Uniswap

Earlier this year, the leading decentralized exchange surpassed a lifetime cumulative trading volume of $1 trillion.

The entity outlined that during its four-year existence, it has amassed millions of users in the DeFi sector, “introduced fair and permissionless trading,” and “lowered the barrier to liquidity provision.”

Despite reaching the milestone, the total value locked (TVL) on Uniswap has significantly declined due to the ongoing bear market. In May, the DEX had nearly $7 billion in TVL, while currently, it has less than $3.6 billion.

Prior to that, it launched Uniswap Labs Ventures: an organization that could “bring millions of people into the emerging Web3 economy” and invest in additional cryptocurrency enterprises.

Days later, American attorneys filed a lawsuit against the exchange, alleging it for “violating the securities laws by offering and selling securities in the form of digital tokens.” They went further, claiming it had allowed illicit activities like “pump and dump” and “rug pulls.”