NFT lending protocol UnUniFi has raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by gumi Cryptos Capital, with participation from Coincheck, Hyperithm, MZ Web3fund, Arriba Studio and gC Incubation.
“The true utility of UnUniFi is NFTFi functionality with a proprietary valuation algorithm, combined with our interchain yield aggregator.”
UnUniFi Founder Yu Kimura
UnUniFi is a Layer1 blockchain protocol for providing efficient NFT lending services through an internal NFT marketplace with Auto DeFi Yield, all built on the Cosmos ecosystem.
UnUniFi will be the first NFTFi platform to create a proprietary NFT valuation algorithm calculated using real demand data, while allowing its users to generate automatic DeFi yield on borrowed assets through an interchain yield aggregator.
UnUniFi aims to be a dApps platform with NFT price information at its core; the internal NFT marketplace provides valuable data for the NFT price discovery function, scalable for usage by external platforms and Cosmos IBC integration.
UnUniFi protocol started development in Q4 2021, and launched its mainnet in May 2022.
This strategic fundraise marks the conclusion of our seed funding round, with the support of venture capital funds and investors from around the world.
UnUniFi will use the funding from this seed round for continued development and scalability in line with the Roadmap, with an immediate focus on delivering the product releases and product-market fit (PMF). We are very grateful for such great support so early in our development, and we look forward to realizing our mission “to give every NFT the opportunity to DeFi”.
What makes UnUniFi Special?
UnUniFi will be the first NFTFi platform to create a proprietary NFT valuation algorithm calculated using real demand data, while allowing its users to generate automatic DeFi yield on borrowed assets.
While other NFTFi platforms employ a peer-to-peer or liquidity-pool lending model, UnUniFi combines real demand for the NFT itself with the intrinsic demand for liquidity generation, giving NFT holders faster and more flexible access to lending.
This technology is scalable for institutional users and can be implemented externally by other platforms as an NFT valuation oracle.
Additionally, UnUniFi’s API, client library, Bubble plugin, and frontend incentive module all combine to allow the project to become the first successful ecosystem with a truly “decentralized frontend”.
Rui Zhang, Managing Partner of gumi Cryptos Capital, said: “Many projects have tried to build a financing ecosystem around NFTs, since NFTs have become a significant asset class. However, due to the unique nature of NFTs, low liquidity causes situations where it is hard to recover financing capital. During distressed markets, this becomes a bottleneck. UnUniFi comprises of a marketplace infrastructure with built-in price discovery functionality; this allows liquidity to be secured from the beginning. We believe UnUniFi will be able to create opportunities for the huge market of NFTFi.”
What Comes Next?: According to the company, “UnUniFi’s immediate focus is on realizing its Q4 product releases and PMF. These objectives include: bringing to market NFTFi functionality with the ability to collateralize NFTs; the Interchain Yield Aggregator for automatic DeFi yield; enabling of Cosmos IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) and more.”
“These core functionalities will help realize the foundations of a truly decentralized NFTFi platform. Through staggered updates and announcements the goal is to continue creating rapid public awareness about the status and availability of our upcoming releases,” UnUniFi mentioned in a statement.
In order to expand the UnUniFi ecosystem, the team is actively seeking and negotiating with NFT projects (an NFT is not limited to art or pfp. — there are many potential applications in real estate or securities domains, etc.), dApps, and other potential partners to identify strategic partnerships.
UnUniFi is accepting inquiries from external collaborators for consideration, where applicable, and welcome other projects to contact us and join the UnUniFi ecosystem.
UnUniFi said that it is working on its deliverables to encourage the widespread adoption of NFTs as a legitimate asset class through practical and usable DeFi technologies.
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