Defactor Labs named as Enterprise Ireland high potential start-up

Dublin-based Defactor Labs has been admitted to Enterprise Ireland’s high potential start-up programme, the first Web3 decentralised finance (DeFi) project in the initiative.

The Web3 company, which is using tokenisation of real-world assets to democratise business lending, will gain access to support and resources through the programme to help support and accelerate its growth and expand its market presence. It comes in advance of plans for a fundraising round later in the year, which will target venture capital funds, institutional investors and angel investors.

The company said the backing of Enterprise Ireland would lend further weight to its plans to bring real-world assets into DeFi.

“When you’re talking about DeFi and want to attract traditional investment, those validations are important,” said Defactor chief executive Alejandro Gutierrez, noting that companies were becoming more open to it. “We have met around 160 different institutions in the last four weeks. The reception is completely different from what was six months ago.”

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The company has provided some $2 million (€1.8 million) in funding since August, 2022 to companies such as Teybridge Capital Europe, ConsolFreight and Latin American based fintech, Fivana.

Defactor also recently unveiled its first DeFi institutional investment product, Alpha, which is backed by traditional asset classes. It was announced onstage at Money 20/20 earlier this month, after Defactor was selected as one of 10 finalists to present it on the Mastercard stage.

“Alpha is the first institutional grade, or fully regulated, defi protocol,” said Mr Gutierrez. “The idea is to get institutional investors comfortable with the technology but using traditional structures, like tokenisation vehicles in Luxembourg. That’s our approach.”

Defactor is also planning to launch more products in the near term as it ramps up its business.

The past three months has seen the company make three senior hires and start a roadshow in the Middle East and Asia, taking in Web 3 hubs such as Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.