DEX developer Shipyard Software raises $21 million for its first exchange, Clipper

Crypto exchange developer Shipyard Software has raised $21 million to build Clipper, a decentralized exchange that is designed for different types of traders.

According to the firm, Polychain Capital led a $4 million equity round with participation from 0x Labs, 1inch, DeFi Alliance, and Quantstamp, among others.

An additional $17 million was pledged by liquidity providers for Clipper, with participation from Polychain, Nascent, Three Arrows Capital, and more. The exchange was recently fully integrated with decentralized aggregators 1inch and 0x. The firm says it will use its new funds to further develop Clipper and grow the exchange’s liquidity pool. 

“We believe that Shipyard is beginning with a genuinely innovative approach by targeting small-to-medium sized traders, not whales,” said Polychain Capital founder and CEO Olaf Carlson-Wee. “Shipyard’s tech will fill a desperately needed void of DEXs that cater to retail traders.”

According to its website, Shipyard Software builds specialized decentralized exchanges for specific types of trades, traders, and instruments. It launched Clipper, its first exchange, on June 30.

According to the firm, most individual crypto traders place trades that are on average less than $10,000. However, most decentralized exchanges today operate on a structure that conflicts with these trades by optimizing for much larger trades. Shipyard Software says it built Clipper to resolve the “feeding frenzy” smaller retail investors face because of this.