Shipyard Software announced today it has raised $21 million for Clipper, a next-generation decentralized exchange (DEX) that caters to retail traders. A $4 million equity round was led by Polychain Capital with participation from 0x Labs, 1inch, DeFi Alliance, and Quantstamp, as well as other notable investors such as Metacartel DAO, Robert Leshner and Tarun Chitra from Robot Ventures, FJLabs, and Naval Ravikant. An additional $17 million was pledged by liquidity providers for the pool of Clipper, the first decentralized exchange by Shipyard, which launched its beta today as well. Polychain, Nascent, Three Arrows Capital, Electric Capital, LD Capital, IOSG, and other angels participated in the LP, with another several million reserved for members of the community to join the pool. Clipper recently completed a full integration with DEX aggregators 1Inch and 0x.
Shipyard Software is building bespoke blockchain-based trading products for specific types of traders and instruments. Shipyard developed automated market making technology based on research published by its CTO, Abe Othman, who was recently cited in Uniswap’s v3 whitepaper. Its novel approach aims to deliver a crypto trading experience as it should be: low-cost and tailored to specific users. With Shipyard products, any type of trader will be able to enjoy a seamless, tailored trading experience.
“We are delighted to support the exceptional team behind Shipyard as they bring to market decentralized exchanges that offer best execution for specific types of traders. We believe that Shipyard is beginning with a genuinely innovative approach by targeting small-to-medium sized traders, not whales,” said Olaf Carlson-Wee from Polychain Capital. “Shipyard’s tech will fill a desperately needed void of DEXs that cater to retail traders.”
The majority of individual crypto traders typically place trades averaging ≤$10,000, and are mainly concerned about high trading fees. Unfortunately for them, the majority of DEXs operating today pursue a structure that conflicts with these traders’ goals. In other words, they optimize for large trades, which ultimately leads to a feeding frenzy for whale traders and arbitrage bots at the expense of smaller retail investors. Shipyard’s first DEX, Clipper, launched on June 30th and is already making waves in the DeFi space with its novel automated market maker (AMM) that offers guaranteed best prices for retail-sized trades.
“Shipyard will reshape the role of DEXs as the DeFi landscape matures into a sector with many different communities of traders each demanding solutions designed just for them. We are thrilled to have the support of visionary investors who recognize the need for DEXs that cater to the disparate communities that make up the retail side of DeFi,” said Mark Lurie, cofounder and CEO of Shipyard Software.
Shipyard Software will continue to leverage its funding to further develop the DEX and grow Clipper’s liquidity pool. Shipyard is building a more equitable DeFi landscape and empowering anyone to trade in free and fair markets with tools customized to their needs.
