QUICK TAKE
- Shogun developer Intensity Labs secured $6.9 million in seed funding.
- The funding round elevated Shogun’s valuation to $69 million, co-founder Rahul Patel shared with The Block.
Intensity Labs, the innovator behind the “intent-centric” DeFi protocol Shogun, has successfully secured $6.9 million in a seed funding round.
Polychain Capital and DAO5 co-led this impressive round, with additional support from Arrington Capital, Arthur Hayes’ family office Maelstrom, and Build-a-Bear. Esteemed angel investors like Cobie, Ansem, Ser Shokunin, and Meltem Demirors also contributed.
The fundraising effort began in January, and by mid-February, it was “oversubscribed,” according to co-founder Rahul Patel. Initially targeting $5 million, the overwhelming interest led them to raise a symbolic $6.9 million. The round was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants, boosting Shogun’s fully diluted token valuation to $69 million.
Shogun, previously incubated by Binance Labs, received further investment from the crypto exchange’s venture capital and incubation arm in March, alongside six other startups in its incubation season 6 program.
What is Shogun?
Shogun is a revolutionary intent-centric DeFi protocol designed to maximize trader extractable value (TEV) by implementing various trading strategies. By dynamically routing liquidity through a hybrid model—combining intent-based fulfillment via market makers and centralized exchanges with on-chain fulfillment for long-tail assets through decentralized exchanges and passive liquidity vaults—Shogun optimizes TEV.
Shogun offers a seamless platform granting users access to every token across all blockchains, explained co-founder Brandon Comer. “You won’t need different wallets or accounts for different chains; it’s all integrated into one interface,” Comer stated. “Users can trade through multiple options: our trading bot, desktop/mobile UI, and trading widgets on other apps.”
Comer likened Shogun’s potential impact to that of Plaid in fintech. “Just as Plaid linked all banks to enable greater financial interactivity, Shogun aims to do the same for web3. We’re creating web3-as-a-service, allowing any non-crypto company to effortlessly integrate DeFi into their apps.”
In addition to Plaid, Comer highlighted Solana-based trading aggregator Jupiter, which integrates all Solana decentralized exchange routes into a seamless user experience. Shogun will empower any app to deploy its own version of Jupiter, whether across multiple chains or selected ones by the app.
“Many ecosystems are excited about this functionality,” Comer stated. “The first adopter is Boopiter, a meme-ified version of Jupiter for the Berachain ecosystem. The Cosmos ecosystem will host one via their Interchain Info service. We’re also negotiating with other major ecosystems within EVM L2s, MoveVM, and more,” he added.
Shogun Launch and Token
The Shogun protocol is set to roll out in phases, beginning with its on-chain routing tool in the second quarter of this year. The protocol will also introduce its own token, GUN, according to Patel.
Shogun is developing multiple interfaces for Berachain, the Cosmos ecosystem, and Intensity Labs’ cross-chain Telegram trading bot, Shogun Oakmont. This will allow traders to trade “any asset on any chain with any token,” Patel said.
Intensity Labs currently employs ten people, and Patel plans to expand the engineering team to support Shogun’s network integrations.