Ithaca Finance, a decentralized finance (defi) startup focused on building composable options infrastructure, has successfully raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed funding round. The round was co-led by crypto trading firm Cumberland and venture capital firm Wintermute Ventures.

The primary goal of Ithaca is to increase options trading volume on-chain and cater to the rising demand for structured products in the cryptocurrency markets. Currently in testing on Arbitrum, the protocol utilizes an algorithmic market maker model to bootstrap liquidity.

CEO of Ithaca, Dimitrios Kavvathas, expressed gratitude towards the investors and highlighted the company’s mission to revolutionize digital asset options trading with their support and guidance. Kavvathas brings extensive experience from leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and crypto lender Amber Group. The technical team at Ithaca also boasts a background in traditional finance and crypto startups.

Ithaca aims to streamline the path to institutional-scale options trading volumes by breaking down options contracts into fundamental building blocks. Their permissionless infrastructure facilitates liquidity aggregation and risk transfer across assets and time horizons.

After an initial invite-only launch, Ithaca plans to make its protocol accessible to the public in Q1 2024. The funding round also saw participation from GHAF Capital, Room40 Ventures, and various angel investors.

As the defi market continues to recover from the downturn in 2022, with a total value locked (TVL) exceeding $56 billion, Ithaca’s upcoming launch is poised to make a significant impact on the options trading landscape in the crypto space.

“We are truly grateful for our investors’ support and are looking forward to revolutionizing the digital asset options trading landscape with their guidance and partnership.” – Dimitrios Kavvathas, CEO of Ithaca

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