Startup profile · funding coverage
Compound
Decentralized lending protocol (Compound Finance) for algorithmic crypto money markets.
Stage
series a
Status
private
Coverage
full
Why Compound is interesting
Early DeFi lending pioneer — Bain Capital Ventures joined a16z crypto in a $25M Series A before COMP governance token launch.
Key facts
- Series A (2019): $25M led by a16z crypto; Bain Capital Ventures, Polychain participated (The Block)
- Co-investors: Paradigm, Polychain co-investors not in VCT directory (Compound Finance / DeFi)
Investors in our directory
Funds linked from Compound's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.
Industries
Crypto & Web3 Fintech
Industry hub pages are rolling out from our fund-derived baseline taxonomy.
Related funding articles
Venture Capital Tracker pieces that cover Compound's financing or category context.
FAQs about Compound
Funding context and why this company shows up in venture coverage.
Compound Finance is a decentralized lending protocol on Ethereum. Users supply crypto to liquidity pools to earn interest, or borrow assets by posting collateral — interest rates adjust algorithmically based on supply and demand.
Andreessen Horowitz (see /fund/andreessen-horowitz) led the $25M Series A in 2019 through its crypto fund. Bain Capital Ventures (see /fund/bain-capital-ventures) also participated.
Series A ($25M, 2019) was the last disclosed venture round. The protocol operates via on-chain governance (COMP token); Compound Labs remains a private company.
Compound helped establish DeFi money markets — proving algorithmic lending could work at scale on Ethereum and inspiring the broader yield-farming and governance-token ecosystem.
Compound Labs is private, but the protocol is open-source and governed on-chain via COMP. It is not a traditional IPO candidate.
Last updated: 2026-07-24