French crypto lending startup Morpho raises €46.1M from a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, others

Paris-based Morpho, a company developing a decentralised protocol for crypto lending and borrowing on Ethereum, has secured $50M (approximately €46.15M) in fresh funding.

The investment came from Ribbit Capital and other strategic partners to advance Morpho network’s decentralisation and its mission of making financial infrastructure a public good.

Ribbit Capital’s investment in Morpho connects it to Ribbit’s global network of portfolio companies, including Revolut, NuBank, Coinbase, Robinhood, Mercado Libre, Figure, and Uniswap.

Additionally, the round also included participation from a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, Variant, Pantera, Brevan Howard, BlockTower, Kraken Ventures, and over 40 other firms, who will contribute to shaping Morpho’s future.

Capital utilisation

The funding will allow Morpho to leverage industry leaders who support its vision of an open, layered financial system and will help in its growth and decentralisation. 

The company believes its protocol has the potential to become a decentralised infrastructure for a global, internet-native financial system.

Morpho plans to expand its ecosystem, offer grants, and position itself as a leading infrastructure for DeFi, institutional, and fintech lending applications.

Brief about Morpho

Morpho, initially launched with its primary product Morpho Optimizer, enhances interest rates on Aave and Compound and has since evolved into an independent financial infrastructure. 

It now features a network of purpose-built protocols layered on a shared base layer, inspired by the early internet’s layered approach, promoting open innovation, resiliency, and value creation.

Unlike Morpho Optimizers, which were peer-to-peer layers built on lending pools like Aave and Compound, Morpho Blue is a new, separate protocol. Morpho Blue serves as a permissionless lending protocol for risk management and specialised products.

Additional modular layers, such as Morpho Vaults, can be added on top to provide diverse risk profiles and specialised lending/borrowing options while sharing the same base layer.

Morpho’s shift from application to infrastructure is highlighted by the adoption of Morpho Blue, which surpassed $1.7B (approximately €1.56B) in deposits on Ethereum within six months and $120M on Base in under a month.