Blockchain startup aPriori raises $20M to expand institutional-grade trading infrastructure – News

Blockchain startup aPriori Network Inc. today announced that it has raised $20 million in new funding to accelerate product rollouts, expand research and engineering teams and grow partnerships across the trading and staking ecosystem.

Founded in 2023, aPriori is building the execution layer for next-generation on-chain markets with a focus on institutional-grade performance. The company was established by former quants and engineers from Jump Trading Group LLC, Coinbase Global Inc. and Citadel Securities LLC, bringing deep expertise from the worlds of high-frequency and quantitative trading.

The company has as its mission to close the gap between traditional finance and decentralized markets by delivering infrastructure that makes trading more efficient, reliable and accessible.

APriori is developing systems that improve order execution on high-performance Ethereum Virtual Machine networks, the computation engine that executes smart contracts on Ethereum and other compatible blockchains.

The company argues that traditional on-chain markets are plagued by issues such as wide spreads, Maximal Extractable Value leakage and an inability to separate toxic order flow from high-quality trades. APriori’s technology differs by applying mechanisms already proven in traditional markets, such as order flow segmentation and advanced routing engines, to make decentralized exchanges fairer and more efficient. Doing so allows liquidity providers and active traders to operate with tighter spreads and more predictable returns.

Core to aPriori’s platform is an artificial intelligence-driven decentralized exchange aggregator called “Swapr,” which intelligently routes trades to ensure users achieve optimal pricing and execution. Swapr can distinguish between harmful and beneficial activity, much like payment-for-order-flow models used in traditional brokerage systems, by analyzing order flow in real time.

Along with its trading infrastructure, aPriori also operates an MEV-powered liquid staking platform that channels extracted MEV into higher yields for stakers. The platform ensures validators and liquidity providers remain incentivized while also stabilizing network performance.

“We built aPriori on the insight that the same mechanisms that protected liquidity providers and improved efficiency, combined with the active engines used at leading high-frequency trading firms to combat adverse selection, could be brought on-chain to transform how liquidity and order flow are managed,” said founder Ray Song. “The result is tighter spreads, fairer execution and more sustainable yields for everyone in the market.”

The strategic funding round included participation from HashKey Capital, Pantera Capital Management LP Primitive Ventures, IMC Trading B.V., GEM Labs, Gate Labs, Ambush Capital and Big Brain Collective.

“With talent from the top trading firms and exchanges, aPriori is one of the few teams capable of bringing institutional-grade execution to on-chain markets,” said Nihal Maunder from Pantera Capital. “We backed them early and are doubling down because their technology and timing position them to define the future of high-performance EVM infrastructure.”

Image: aPriori