Kuru Labs, a startup building a decentralized exchange on Ethereum, announced the closing of an $11.6 million Series A funding round. The funds will be used to develop an orderbook model that could transform trading infrastructure in DeFi.
Funding and Goals of Kuru Labs
On July 7, Kuru Labs announced the closing of a $11.6 million Series A funding round led by investment firm Paradigm. This round follows a previous $2 million seed round. The funds will be allocated to developing the first fully functional central limit orderbook for EVM, with participation from notable angel investors including Viktor Bunin, Zagabond, and former FTX product lead Tristan Yver.
Kuru's Approach to the DeFi Market
Kuru Labs aims to merge a central limit orderbook with an automated market maker, providing tighter spreads while ensuring liquidity. The platform features a discovery terminal, token launchpad, and tools for both active and passive liquidity provision. Kuru's team believes that legacy DEXs have failed to fully streamline the DeFi trading process.
Potential and Challenges of the New Model
Kuru Labs' approach is ambitious as it challenges fundamental DeFi assumptions that AMMs are the only viable model for decentralized trading. The success of Kuru's model hinges on the operational capacities promised by Monad, offering 10,000 transactions per second and one-second block finality. Existing EVM chains like Ethereum and Arbitrum cannot support a functional orderbook due to high fees and slow blocks.
Kuru Labs’ initiative represents an attempt to reshape decentralized trading concepts with the hope their orderbook model can overcome existing limitations. The success of this project could significantly impact trading infrastructure in DeFi.
