Agora, headquartered in Jersey City, N.J., has successfully raised a $12 million Seed round to propel the launch of its innovative digital dollar and asset platform designed specifically for transmitting value on blockchain-based rails. The financing was led by Dragonfly, with notable participation from General Catalyst, Hack VC, Kraken Ventures, and several other funds and notable angels. Strategic investors include Mirana Ventures, Mantle EcoFund, Foresight Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, Galaxy, and Consensys.
The primary offering from Agora is a fully collateralized and freely tradeable US digital dollar, known as AUSD (Agora USD), which is set to be introduced to select international markets initially. AUSD aims to distinguish itself significantly from existing stablecoin products. Emphasizing an open partnership model, Agora believes that digital dollars should be treated as public goods.
Nick van Eck, co-founder and CEO of Agora, expressed excitement about the market’s reception of AUSD, anticipating disruption in the rent-seeking and closed-partner models prevalent in the stablecoin market.
Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly, highlighted the misaligned incentives, outdated technologies, and questionable regulatory structures present in the stablecoin market. He emphasized Agora’s customer-centric approach and its commitment to building top-tier technology within a compliant infrastructure, enabling partnerships with leading entities worldwide.
VanEck, one of the world’s largest ETF issuers, will manage Agora’s reserve fund, with assets held in trust by one of the largest custodians globally. Agora’s focus on regulatory compliance includes pursuing licenses where applicable, with its reserve fund assets being bankruptcy remote and subject to regular audits.
Drake Evans, co-founder and CTO of Agora, underscored the company’s exceptional team with extensive experience in blockchain, financial markets, and payments. Together, they are dedicated to developing the most liquid and widely accepted digital dollar. Nick and Drake are joined by Joe McGrady, COO of Agora, in steering the company towards its goals.
