DeFi startup InstaDApp raises $10 million in new funding

InstaDApp, a startup aiming to build what it calls the "middleware" layer for the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, has raised $10 million in new funding.

The $10 million round, which involved the sale of tokens, was led by Standard Crypto. The pool of investors included the DeFi Alliance, Longhash Ventures, along with developer and Yearn founder Andre Cronje. The funding news comes more than a year and a half after InstaDApp raised a $2.4 million seed round from a group that included Coinbase Ventures, Naval Ravikant and Pantera Capital.

In an email, co-founder Sowmay Jain told The Block that the funding will be used to "complete our transition into the middleware layer for DeFi and support the ecosystem project building on top of Instadapp Protocol." InstaDApp is also gearing up for the launch of its in-house governance token, INST, which was detailed in an April blog post. 

"At launch, the core team will be handing over the management of the protocol to the DAO. We believe it is crucial that we allow the community to self-govern, and the team will focus on building essential extensions and growing the protocol ecosystem," the team said at the time." 

The team told The Block that it is aiming for the end of June to launch the governance token.

InstaDApp effectively serves as a portal layer between users and various DeFi protocols, allowing those users to interact with different elements of the ecosystem through the startup's non-custodial platform. Its expanded protocol plans include features such as layer-2 integrations.

The Block's Mika Honkasalo recently penned an overview of the growing ecosystem of protocols built on protocols in the DeFi space.