Crypto-focused financial modeling firm Gauntlet becomes Unicorn after raising $23.8M

Financial modeling company Gauntlet which specializes in crypto, has raised $23.8 million in a Series B funding round that saw participation from some major blockchain venture funds. This resulted in the company achieving Unicorn status, which means that it has reached a $1 billion valuation.

As per the report by Bloomberg, the Palo Alto-based venture firm Ribbit Capital led the round along with the participation from existing investors Polychain Capital and Paradigm.

Gauntlet aims to use the fund for hiring additional employees under its aim to expand into new industry verticals like gaming.

Tarun Chitra, a Wall Street executive who previously worked at major hedge fund D. E. Shaw established Gauntlet in 2018. It is a financial modeling and simulation company that focuses on capital efficiency and risk in the crypto industry.

According to Crunchbase, Gauntlet secured its first seed investment of $2.9 million in 2018 from Coinbase Ventures and five more investors. In 2020, the firm successfully raised $4.4 million.

Gauntlet boomed as crypto rose

Gauntlet’s $1 billion valuation underscores the crypto industry’s explosive rise over the last two years. Gauntlet’s core offering, according to Bloomberg, allows cryptocurrency projects — specifically decentralized finance (DeFi) systems — to undertake stress tests to assist them to determine the best lending and collateral levels.

Aave (AAVE) and Compound (COMP) are two of Gauntlet’s most noteworthy clients. Since early 2021, companies in the crypto and blockchain industries have received significant venture funding, resulting in the crowning of numerous “unicorns.” Over the last year, over a dozen unicorns have been proclaimed.

Last year, blockchain businesses raised $25.2 billion in venture capital, including 59 “mega-rounds” valued at more than $100 million each.

A few days back, NFT infrastructure startup Rarify secured $10 million in a Series A funding round. In February, the leading Layer-2 scaling solution Polygon raised $450 million in a funding round with major venture capital firms. Astar Network secured $22 million funding in late January after winning the Polkadot auction.