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Perp DEX funding: 8 deals, $39.5M, 2 teams took 65%

By NAUT Research · · 6 min read

$39.5M Perp DEX funding raised across the 6 rounds that disclosed an amount, 1 July to 29 October 2026. Logos: Vest Exchange, Extended, Antarctic, PERPTools, Imperial, SmartX, Arcus.

Perp DEX funding since 1 July 2026 adds up to $39.5M: 8 teams running perpetual futures venues and perps terminals logged a deal on NAUT, and the 6 that disclosed an amount raised that sum. Vest Exchange at $13M and Extended at $12.5M took $25.5M of it, 65% of the total, and the rest of the band runs from $500K up to $7M. Foundation Capital led Imperial's $1.5M seed and Portal Ventures led Vest Exchange's $13M seed, the 2 leads stored on NAUT's own records, and the reports behind these rounds name firms on 3 more of them.

Data as of 29 October 2026, from NAUT's funding records. The scope is venture rounds and exits by perpetual DEX startups and derivatives venues announced between 1 July and 29 October 2026. NAUT's feed holds 11 such rows; this report counts 8 of them and sets 3 aside, explained under the table. Backer counts here are NAUT's record, which holds backers on 3 of the 8 deals; where a cited report names a firm NAUT does not store yet, the report is named with it. Each round is checked against outside reports, listed under Sources, and a detail no source confirmed is left out. Dates are each round's announcement date as NAUT stores it, and a project page can render that date 1 day later in its own time zone. 2 more notes on the records: Vest Exchange and Extended each carry 2 contact rows that may describe 1 founder, and Antarctic's listed founder has no page to link yet. NAUT Research wrote this report; no one paid for it.

Which perp DEX funding rounds closed, and who led each?

Date Company Round and size Backers on NAUT
2 Jul Funding round, not disclosed None stored
2 Jul Strategic, $12.5M None stored
8 Jul M&A, not disclosed None stored
25 Aug Incubation, $500K None stored
7 Sep Seed, $7M None stored
1 Oct Seed, $5M The 5 firms listed below
6 Oct Seed, $1.5M , lead
7 Oct Seed, $13M , lead

The firms the reports name and NAUT does not store yet. eToro led the $12.5M strategic round into Extended with Jump Crypto joining, per Bitget's write-up of the 2 July deal. Robinhood Crypto put an undisclosed amount into Arcus, per Cointelegraph. Valisa Capital Markets, Lucidity Capital and Republic Crypto are named on Antarctic's $7M by PANews. On Vest Exchange, the press release on The Block lists the company's backers as Portal Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Amber Group, Selini Capital, Auros and Flowdesk, and KuCoin's flash adds individual investors from Citadel Securities, BlackRock and KKR. SmartX's own NAUT profile says it is backed by YZi Labs. So 7 of the 8 deals have at least 1 firm named somewhere, and 01.xyz's M&A row is the one with none.

The 3 rows set aside. V12 carries a $10M seed dated 30 July, and the only report of a $10M seed under that name describes an AI security company, so its amount stays out of the $39.5M. GAEA carries a $3.6M strategic round dated 31 August, and both reports of a $3.6M round under that name describe a decentralised AI infrastructure project rather than the digital asset derivatives platform NAUT's record describes, so its amount stays out too and its reported backers are not listed here. Cypher carries an M&A row dated 8 July, and the acquisition reported under that name is of a wallet and payments business, so it is counted as neither a round nor an exit here. All 3 rows are worth a look before anyone pitches those teams.

Who runs each perp DEX, and who backed it?

  • runs a multi-chain perpetuals venue across crypto, equities and forex pairs.
  • runs an on-chain perpetual futures exchange with a hybrid order book, under the name it used to trade as x10.
    • Founder and CEO: Ruslan F.. Founder and CTO: Dmitrii Krasovskikh
    • Led by: eToro, with Jump Crypto joining the $12.5M strategic round on 2 July, per the reports. Neither firm is stored on NAUT yet
  • is a Singapore perpetual contract exchange that closed a $7M seed on 7 September at a $70M valuation, per PANews.
    • Backed by: Valisa Capital Markets, Lucidity Capital and Republic Crypto, per the same report, none of them stored on NAUT yet
    • Its founder row on NAUT has no page, so the backers above are the way in
  • builds a decentralised perpetual contract exchange and raised $5M on 1 October at an $80M valuation, per Pulse 2.0.
  • runs perps on Solana from 1 terminal and raised $1.5M on 6 October at a $15M post-money valuation, per KuCoin.
  • is building a social trading app for memes, perps, stocks and prediction markets, with $500K logged on 25 August.
    • Backed by YZi Labs, per its own NAUT profile. NAUT stores no investor row on the deal
  • runs a perpetuals exchange on the Robinhood Chain. An X account for Arcus posted on 2 July that "dYdX is now Arcus", and the dYdX Foundation says Arcus "is a distinct, independent product built on separate infrastructure" and that the dYdX blockchain "is not affected by it in any way", per Cointelegraph. Treat them as 2 things when you pitch.
    • NAUT's record carries several names on the page, including Antonio Juliano as Founder and Eddie Z. as President
    • Backed by: Robinhood Crypto, amount undisclosed
  • is the perpetual futures DEX that exited by acquisition on 8 July instead of raising again.
    • Dima Romanov is listed as a former co-founder, so treat the page as history on the team

How much perp DEX funding did each team raise?

Raised per round, the 6 that disclosed an amount
  1. Vest Exchange$13M
  2. Extended$12.5M
  3. Antarctic$7M
  4. PERPTools$5M
  5. Imperial$1.5M
  6. SmartX$0.5M

Vest Exchange and Extended took $25.5M, 65% of the $39.5M. Arcus disclosed no amount and 01.xyz exited by acquisition, so neither sits on the chart.

What perp DEX funding tells a BD team

How a BD team can work this perp DEX list
  1. Start with the 4 seedsVest Exchange ($13M), Antarctic ($7M), PERPTools ($5M) and Imperial ($1.5M) raised $26.5M between them since July.
  2. Open with a named personImperial lists Co-Founder and CEO Jordan Prince, and Vest Exchange lists CEO Justin Ma and CTO Max.
  3. Use the backer when there is no nameNAUT stores a backer on 3 of the 8 rounds: Foundation Capital, Portal Ventures and the 5 firms behind PERPTools.
  4. Work the reported firms tooThe reports name eToro and Jump Crypto on Extended, Robinhood Crypto on Arcus, and Valisa Capital Markets, Lucidity Capital and Republic Crypto on Antarctic.

What this tells a perps founder raising now

  • The perp DEX investors on NAUT's record repeat nobody. The 7 firms NAUT stores across these 8 deals back 1 team each, so a founder pitching the sector on that record is working 7 separate doors.
  • The band is $500K to $13M, and it is top-heavy. SmartX at $500K sits at the bottom and Vest Exchange at $13M at the top, with Antarctic at $7M and PERPTools at $5M between them across the 6 disclosed rounds.
  • Seeds are most of the money, but not most of the cheque types. 4 seeds, 1 strategic round, 1 incubation cheque, 1 round with no amount and 1 exit make up the 8, so an exchange, a chain or a trading firm on the cap table is common here: eToro and Jump Crypto on Extended, Robinhood Crypto on Arcus, YZi Labs on SmartX.
How a founder can use these perp DEX investors
  1. Shortlist the 7 firms on NAUTFoundation Capital, Portal Ventures, Sfermion, Shima Capital, Big Brain Holdings, NEAR Foundation and Animoca Brands.
  2. Add the firms the reports nameeToro, Jump Crypto, Robinhood Crypto, Valisa Capital Markets, Lucidity Capital, Republic Crypto and YZi Labs all appear on a deal above.
  3. Size the ask to the bandThe 6 disclosed rounds run from $500K to $13M, and 4 of them are $5M or more.
  4. Pick the matching chequeFoundation Capital led at $1.5M and Portal Ventures led at $13M, so the 2 leads NAUT stores sit at opposite ends.

How to reach the decision makers

Every company, investor and person named above links to its NAUT page, which carries the team, the backers and the people to contact. 10 people across 6 of these 8 teams have a NAUT page, and the 7 firms behind the 3 rounds with backers on NAUT hold 6 investor pages plus Animoca Brands' project page. For SmartX, Antarctic and 01.xyz, where no current person is listed, the fastest route is a backer from the reports above or an adjacent team on the same page.

Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?

Yes. Every company in this article is in NAUT's developer API as JSON, the same records the pages show. GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/vest-exchange returns that company with its team, in the same shape as every other company named here, for 5 credits a call. A key with no credits gets clearly marked sample data, so you can build against it first. Plans start at $49 a month for 3,000 credits (pricing), and the API docs list every endpoint. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn for the people on NAUT unlock on any paid plan: start a 7-day trial.

Perp DEX funding FAQ

Who invested in perp DEX startups since July 2026?

Between 1 July and 29 October 2026, NAUT stores 7 firms across the 8 perpetuals deals: Foundation Capital led Imperial's $1.5M seed, Portal Ventures led Vest Exchange's $13M seed, and Sfermion, Shima Capital, Big Brain Holdings, NEAR Foundation and Animoca Brands backed PERPTools's $5M seed. The cited reports add eToro and Jump Crypto on Extended, Robinhood Crypto on Arcus, and Valisa Capital Markets, Lucidity Capital and Republic Crypto on Antarctic, none of which has a NAUT investor page yet.

How much perp DEX funding was raised between July and October 2026?

$39.5M, across the 6 of 8 deals that disclosed an amount between 1 July and 29 October 2026. Arcus kept its amount private and 01.xyz exited by acquisition on 8 July instead of raising.

Which perp DEX raised the most since July 2026?

Vest Exchange raised the most, a $13M seed led by Portal Ventures announced on 7 October 2026. Extended is next with a $12.5M strategic round announced on 2 July 2026, led by eToro.

Which perpetual DEX startups can a BD team contact on NAUT today?

5 of the 8 teams funded between 1 July and 29 October 2026 list a current named person on NAUT: Vest Exchange (CEO Justin Ma), Imperial (CEO Jordan Prince), Extended (CEO Ruslan F.), PERPTools (CEO Evgen Tokarev) and Arcus (Antonio Juliano, Founder per NAUT's record).

Is Arcus the same thing as dYdX?

An X account for Arcus posted on 2 July 2026 that "dYdX is now Arcus", and the dYdX Foundation said Arcus "is a distinct, independent product built on separate infrastructure" and that the dYdX blockchain "is not affected by it in any way", per Cointelegraph's report of the launch. NAUT holds the team under 1 project page, Arcus, with the July 2026 round that Robinhood Crypto joined.

Can I get this data through an API?

Yes. NAUT's developer API at api.naut.so/v1 returns the data behind this article as JSON: GET /v1/projects/vest-exchange returns that company with its team, in the same shape as every other company named here. A call costs 5 credits, and a key with no credits returns marked sample data for free.

Sources

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