Structure Raises $20M to Make DeFi Mainstream- and Mobile-Friendly

Trading platform Structure has secured $20 million in financing at an approximately $150 million valuation. The funding included a seed round led by Polychain Capital and proceeds from a sale of Structure’s STXR token.

The funds will help Structure develop a mobile app as it looks to become a mainstream gateway to the world of decentralized finance (DeFi). Observers have placed 2022 as a potential banner year for fintech–DeFi mashups as crypto familiarity ticks upward in the general population.

Launched earlier this year, Structure plans to let users make zero-commission investments in tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options and cryptocurrencies, the company said in a statement. Clients will also be able to trade between assets within a single transaction and receive payments in their choice of tokens. The platform will eventually allow clients to earn, borrow and lend.

“We believe strongly that the promise of DeFi is not reserved for the few and we look forward to helping the team at Structure to bridge that gap,” Polychain CEO Olaf Carlson-Wee said in a statement.

“The history of financial innovation has been a history of a few very savvy, usually well-educated and wealthy people taking advantage of new developments that make them fantastically rich. DeFi has been no exception to this. Structure’s mission is to make all of this new financial growth as inclusive as possible by developing a platform that anybody can use, that doesn’t require any kind of special education in the industry,” Structure co-founder said Bryan Hernandez told CoinDesk.

Structure plans to offer the Structure app on an invitation-only basis in early 2022 with a broader introduction to follow within a few months. Hernandez says the app will initially be available to global investors outside the U.S. to comply with applicable regulations.

UPDATE (Dec. 1, 21:18 UTC): Adds Structure quote.