MIAMI, April 11, 2022 - Finance on DeFi keeps getting more refined, with an eye to really taking on the banks. Shorter Protocol, a decentralized shorting infrastructure that will work on multiple blockchains at once, has raised $4 million in a round led by IDG Capital. Circle Ventures, Hedgue Fund, Halls Investment, NFV, and others also joined this angel round.

IPI Labs, the startup behind Shorter, has not previously raised funding, though the startup has long been courting attention from VCs eager to back a gifted player in the DeFi craze. It builds this unprecedented infrastructure that has brought margin trading and real-time physical delivery to the land of decentralized derivatives trading so users can short any tokens, with the ability to submit orders 100% on chain.

Since Shorter is EVM-compatible, users of Ethereum, BNB Chain and other EVM-compatible chains will be able to interact with Shorter using familiar tools like MetaMask.

The IPI team currently stands at over 80 members, which include analysts, developers and crypto experts. "The team is expected to grow to over 150 by the end of this year and potentially as large as 200 by 2023, it wouldn't take a long time to play out for Shorter", co-founder Brady said. He believes that long-term engagement in a nascent infrastructure will present enormous value when the needs from professional traders are met.

Over time, IPI Labs is increasingly doubling down on its position. Earlier this year, the startup announced it started to cooperate with a number of exchanges and wallets. Shorter Protocol launched its testnet this spring with a mainnet launch shortly thereafter.

SOURCE IPI Labs