Kelp DAO, a prominent liquid restaking platform, has successfully closed a $9 million private sale round, marking a significant milestone in its mission to enhance decentralized finance (DeFi) and the restaking landscape.

The funding round was led by SCB Limited, a proprietary trading firm based in the Bahamas, and Laser Digital, the digital asset arm of Nomura Global, with a combined investment of $3.5 million. Other notable investors included Bankless Ventures, Hypersphere, Draper Dragon, DACM, Cypher Capital, ArkStream, Cluster Capital, GSR, Longhash, Side Door Ventures, NOIA Capital, HTX Ventures, Avid3, ViaBTC Capital, DWF Ventures, and Coinseeker, among others.

This influx of capital builds on Kelp DAO’s already impressive track record, with over $850 million in Total Value Locked (TVL) and more than 40,000 active restakers on the platform. The newly secured funds will be utilized to enhance the platform’s capabilities, expand into other ecosystems like Solana and Bitcoin, and further innovate restaking solutions.

The confidence from global investors is evident, with several notable angel investors in the crypto community showing their support. These include Scott, Cofounder of Gitcoin; Alex, CEO of Nansen; Sam K, Cofounder of Frax; Marc Zeller from Aave Chan Initiative; Saurabh Sharma from Jump Crypto; Amrit, COO of Altlayer; Anthony, Cofounder of Swissborg; and Winslow Strong from Mr. Block.

Dheeraj Borra, Co-founder of Kelp DAO, expressed his excitement about the successful fundraise, stating, “This fundraise propels our expansion in the market and sharpens our focus on building customer-centric solutions. It’s truly thrilling to have our investors share that vision.” Both Kelp DAO founders, Amitej Gajjala and Dheeraj Borra, expressed gratitude for the support of investors, which they believe will drive Kelp DAO towards scaling new heights in restaking solutions.

Jez Mohideen, CEO of Laser Digital, also voiced his support for the project, stating, “We are very excited to support Kelp DAO and the passionate team in its journey towards building innovative restaking infrastructure solutions.”

Jack Platts, Co-founder of Hypersphere Ventures, echoed this enthusiasm, saying, “We’re excited by the prospect of restaking enabling more developer experimentation and use cases. Kelp’s proven team and focus on user experience is playing a key role in this restaking’s early success. We look forward to the team executing on its vision of enhancing yields and optionality for ETH stakers.”

Kelp DAO is a leading liquid restaking protocol with over $850 million in assets under management and more than 45,000 restakers. Their liquid restaked token (LRT) was the first to hit the Ethereum mainnet, pioneering liquid restaking with liquid staking tokens. Kelp DAO facilitates liquid restaking for native ETH and LSTs across the Ethereum mainnet and eight Layer 2 networks.

Backed by Nomura, Laser Digital offers scalable, robust opportunities across trading, asset management, and ventures, maintaining high standards in risk management, compliance, and commercial viability, all driven by a belief in responsible crypto innovation.

SCB Limited is a Bahamian-based proprietary trading firm that actively participates in the digital asset ecosystem, contributing to the growth and innovation of the crypto market.