Jacquelyn Melinek

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 <li>The capital will be used to expand its team, invest in security auditing, grow the current protocol while also building more DeFi protocols, Ruan said</li>
 <li>“We want to build DeFi solutions for normal people and for mass adoption,” Ruan said. “We want to bring DeFi to the mainstream.”</li>
 </ul>
 
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Staking and lending protocol Parallel Finance has closed a strategic funding round bringing its valuation to $250 million.



The investment was led by Sequoia and Founders Fund with participation from Shima Capital.&nbsp; The company raised “a couple million” for the round, but Parallel Finance’s CEO Yubo Ruan declined to disclose a specific amount during an interview with Blockworks.&nbsp;



This capital raise comes shortly after the company’s Series A round in August. Over the span of three months, Parallel Finance’s valuation has increased about 67% from $150 million to $250 million, Ruan said.&nbsp;



Parallel Finance is a decentralized money market protocol that offers lending, staking and borrowing on the Polkadot and <a href="https://kusama.network/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kusama</a> blockchain ecosystems. Its latest valuation makes the protocol one of the highest-valued projects on Polkadot, the company said in a statement. For reference, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/polkadot-reaches-major-milestone-with-launch-of-parachain-auctions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Polkadot</a> is a Web3 layer-zero platform that enables people to launch on a blockchain, Ruan said. 



The capital will be used to expand its team, invest in security auditing, grow the current protocol while also building more DeFi protocols, Ruan said.&nbsp;



In the future, the company plans to complete another funding round that “will be quite large,” and bring its valuation higher, Ruan said.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We want to build DeFi solutions for normal people and for mass adoption,” Ruan said. “We want to bring DeFi to the mainstream,” he added.



“[Ruan] is the Elon Musk-type founder in crypto who will build differentiated DeFi products on any layer 1 protocol he and his team set their minds to,&#8221; said Yida Gao, managing partner of Shima Capital, referring to their decision to invest in the Parallel Finance.