1inch, the Decentralized Exchange (DEX) aggregator, has secured $12 million in its recently completed series A funding. This round was led by Pantera Capital and attracted other crypto investment heavyweights, including Blockchain Capital, Spartan Capital Securities, Struck Capital Fabric Ventures, and ParaFi Capital. Alexander Pack, Kain Warwick, and Josh Hannah also contributed to the 1inch series A funding round.

Sergej Kunz, the CEO of 1inch, informed The Block that this funding followed the process of a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT); basically, this is an investment contract that promises to deliver tokens at a later date.

The 1inch DEX aggregator made its debut in the hallmark DeFi niche as recent as August, launching its Automated Market Maker (AMM) protocol dubbed ‘Mooniswap’ as well. This DEX aggregator serves as a bridge in the nascent DEX markets by connecting several DEXes into one ecosystem.

In doing so, 1inch helps users optimize their DEX liquidity by finding the best trades across AMM protocols, including Balancer and its platform, Mooniswap. The project recently released a v2 for its protocol, which features a new API, ‘Pathfinder,’ to improve routing between DEXes.

1inch’s series A funding comes when DEX aggregators are speeding up their products to solve the underlying challenges in DeFi. Its competitor, Slingshot, also recently secured a $3.1 million funding in a round led by Framework Ventures.

According to Kunz, the recently raised funds will come in handy for the DEX aggregator, especially with expansion plans. He highlighted that the team is currently working on various initiatives, including a liquidity protocol update for the Mooniswap AMM and its upcoming utility token, 1INCH. This token is still in audit, although everything is already in place for launch and distribution, per Kunz's conversation with The Block.

“Code is already written, and the 1inch Foundation is also in place, which would issue the token. But we have to stay clean from the regulatory side.”

Kunz also mentioned that 1inch plans to scale its team past the current 28 personnel as part of its expansion plan in the coming future. The DEX aggregator has signaled that it will expand its footprint into the Asian market, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. Finally, the team will announce a detailed roadmap for the next two years, including new products.

“We are soon going to announce our product roadmap for the next two years. This includes a lightweight, very gas-efficient limit order protocol and an improved liquidity protocol.”

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