Crypto Lending Firm Morpho Secures $50M in Major Funding Round

Led by Ribbit Capital, this funding round includes big names like a16z and Coinbase Ventures.

Morpho, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, has successfully raised $50 million in a strategic funding round led by Ribbit Capital. The round also saw participation from prominent investors such as a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, Variant, Pantera, Brevan Howard, BlockTower, and Kraken Ventures. The funding was raised through a private token sale, although Morpho has not disclosed the valuation from this round.

Morpho, founded by Paul Frambot while still in college, previously raised $18 million in 2022. The company aims to revolutionize DeFi by integrating it with the base protocol layers of the internet, transforming private financial infrastructures into public goods. Morpho has evolved from optimizing interest rates on platforms like Aave and Compound to becoming Morpho Blue, a base infrastructure for building crypto lending applications with custom risk-management strategies.

“Our ambition has always been: how do we break out of DeFi?” Frambot stated in an interview. He emphasized the strategic involvement of fintech backers like Ribbit, highlighting potential integrations with mainstream financial platforms such as Robinhood and Revolut. These platforms can use Morpho to design flexible lending and borrowing use cases without fragmenting liquidity.

Frambot added, “We need to bridge the gap for DeFi and make the actual integration into the fintech world, and Ribbit was an obvious partner for that.” The collaboration aims to move beyond the typical crypto leverage use cases of DeFi lending and explore real-world financial integrations.

Other investors in the round included Hack VC, IOSG, Rockaway, L1D, Mirana, Cherry, Semantic, Fenbushi, Leadblock, Bitpanda, and Robot Ventures. This significant investment marks a pivotal step for Morpho in expanding its capabilities and impact within the DeFi and broader financial sectors.

photo source / Blockonome