Alameda Research Heads $35M Funding Round For Stacked Crypto Trading App

Alameda Research, a crypto trading company launched by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, has led a $35 million investment in the automated cryptocurrency trading app Stacked. Unleashed in April 2020, the web-based app lets users access trading strategies through pre-built stacks.

On December 9, the startup confirmed its successful completion of a Series A funding round that is co-led by Alameda and Mirana Ventures, which is a venture partner of Bybit exchange and BitDAO. This new funding will allegedly enable Stacked to grow its 40-person team to more than 100 employees in 2022 and continue scaling its suite cryptocurrency portfolios and automated lending products.

Based on Alameda Research Ventures’ partner Brian Lee, Alameda began investing in Stacked about a year ago and is now sure that they can offer a “unique and simple investment experience for retail investors.”

Lee noted:

“The ability to give users some guardrails when building a portfolio, while also allowing that user to custody funds on their preferred exchange is something investors really need.”

Launched in April 2020, Stacked is a web-based application enabling users to access vetted trading strategies and investment portfolios through pre-built stacks designed to resemble popular crypto indexes, hedge funds and many other investor portfolios. The platform aims to go fully mobile in the coming six months.

Alameda Funds Stacked Investment Startup

Based on a statement by Stacked co-founder and CEO Joel Birch, stacks including DeFi coins are among the most popular on this platform. Based on Stacked’s data at the time of publication, the nonfungible token (NFT)-based stacks, which includes a mix of large- and small-cap coins offering exposure to the NFT markets.

Alan Eschweiler, Stacked’s chief revenue officer, insisted on the importance of major firms backing the company. He stated:

“It’s no accident that two of the largest exchanges in the crypto space co-lead this investment round. These exchanges, and others, have been key partners of ours since day one, introducing their users to more automated tools for investing.”

This news comes as Bankman-Fried’s exchange FTX is allegedly seeking to raise $1.5 billion for its global crypto derivatives exchange and its United States affiliate FTX.US. Tech-focused publication The Information reported on December 3 that the new fundraise may value FTX and FTX.US at $32 billion and $8 billion, respectively.