Arkis, a British startup founded by two Ukrainian entrepreneurs, has raised $2.25 million in Pre-Seed funding. One of the investors is the Ukrainian venture fund Roosh Ventures. Serhii Tokarev, an IT entrepreneur and investor, co-founder of the Roosh investment group, which includes Roosh Ventures, announced this news on Facebook.
“The company operates in the DeFi (decentralized finance) market, allowing clients to raise funds for short-term on-chain cryptocurrency transactions. With Arkis, users can take out a loan, conduct transactions, and repay borrowed funds without switching to other platforms,” noted Tokarev.
Among other investors in the startup, there are the American venture fund Gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC), British G1 Ventures, and French Psalion VC.
Arkis was founded in 2022 by Serhii Tyshchenko and Oleksandr Proskurin. Both of them have backgrounds in academic mathematics and extensive experience in the financial industry. Ukrainians note that after the bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange service FTX and the cryptocurrency hedge fund Tree Arrows Capital, lending suffered a blow. In response, they developed a new mathematical approach to creating a transparent infrastructure for credit leverage, i.e. they created a possibility to use borrowed capital for trading financial assets.
Thanks to a modern margin mechanism, Arkis users have the opportunity to conduct credit operations without transitioning to other platforms.
Arkis’ mission is to accelerate the development of the DeFi market. ”The development of the DeFi sector resembles the path of traditional finance: initially unstructured, it gradually evolved into a complex system consisting of top-notch brokers, exchanges, and hedge funds,” explains one of the startup’s co-founders, Oleksandr Proskurin.
To establish an individual secure credit leveraging environment, the startup collaborates with De-Fi hedge funds. All users enter into a smart contract that specifies how the borrowed funds will be used and when the credit will be repaid. The process is managed by an investment manager, reducing counterparty risk and lowering fees for users.
Serhii Tokarev shared that he found out about the startup in 2023: “The idea intrigued me immediately, so within a few weeks, I decided to be part of their story, joining as an Angel Investor.” Since then, the company has completed the development of the MVP (Minimum Viable Product), secured investments, and is ready to attract its first clients. In December 2023, the startup announced its integration with the decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch and a strategic partnership with alternative investment manager Edge Capital.
“Arkis is building the perfect interaction between corporate borrowers and lenders in the DeFi space. The smart contracts that form the foundation of Arkis technology provide a new level of transparency, security, and efficiency in crypto asset-based debt transactions. We are delighted to support Ukrainian founders in achieving their ambitious goals,” noted Adam Hashchyshyn, Junior Partner at Roosh Ventures.
As the founders note, their goal is to utilize blockchain technology to revolutionize the calculation of cross-margin (where the entire deposit serves as collateral), providing even greater capital efficiency compared to traditional finance, while maintaining control over security and risk management.
Roosh Ventures is a Ukrainian venture fund founded by Denys Dmytrenko and Serhii Tokarev in 2021. The fund invests in startups at stages ranging from Pre-seed to Series A in various industries, with a primary focus on corporate SaaS solutions, fintech, gaming, and AI-based products. In its three years of existence, the fund has already invested in well-known startups such as Deel, The Guarantors, Oura, Pipe, Alma, Playco, Dapper Labs, Alter, and more than 35 other companies. Roosh Ventures has offices in Kyiv, Paris, and London.
