Wintermute alumni raise funds for crypto proprietary trading firm Raven

Raven, a crypto proprietary trading firm co-founded by three former Wintermute employees, has emerged from stealth with a $2.7 million seed funding round.

Hack VC led the round, with Wintermute Ventures and several undisclosed angel investors participating, Raven said Tuesday.

The firm began raising for this round last November and closed it last month, co-founder Petar Kostov, a former DeFi software engineer at Wintermute, told The Block. He said this was an equity round, and there is no token planned — adding that the round brought Raven's valuation to $25 million.

Kostov noted that Hack VC partner Roshun Patel has joined Raven's board of directors as part of the deal. Kostov co-founded Raven in January 2023 with Yuriy Myronovych, former head of DeFi and senior software architect at Wintermute, and Ivaylo Kirilov, former DeFi software engineer at Wintermute, with the goal of "making the best trades at the best time."

What is Raven?

Raven is a proprietary high-frequency algorithmic trading firm and market maker active on both centralized and decentralized exchanges. "While we trade mainly for our own profit, we also provide liquidity to exchanges and projects as part of service level agreements (SLAs), and we also market-make individual tokens," Kostov said.

When Raven signs an SLA, it is required to maintain a certain level of liquidity for a given token or market across all trading platforms so that demand is always matched by sufficient supply. Kostov said Raven trades on "tier 1 and 2" centralized exchanges and "most of the well-known" DeFi protocols.

Raven recently also partnered with crypto indices provider Global Markets Crypto Intelligence — co-built by Wintermute and The Block — to support its flagship index GMCI 30 , Kostov said. "We aim to build long-term partnerships everywhere we go — with every exchange and with every project," he added.

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Raven's plans

With fresh funding in place, Raven plans to expand to more centralized and decentralized exchanges, Kostov said.

"It is our firm belief that crypto is here to stay and grow, and we are simply doing our part in growing it," Kostov said. He added that Raven's primary focus on technology will help the firm "to drive the growth of the market and ultimately bring us success."

There are currently 11 people working for Bulgaria-headquartered Raven, Kostov said — adding that the firm plans to hire more people, mainly focusing on those with experience in DeFi.

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