UAE’s Grvt secures $19M to push next-gen decentralized exchange expansion

UAE Grvt funding has taken center stage once again as Further Ventures, a sovereign wealth fund–backed investment firm, co-led a $19 million Series A round in Grvt, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built for financial privacy. The announcement, made in September 2025, underscores Abu Dhabi’s growing role in shaping the future of onchain finance.

The round was co-led by ZKsync alongside UAE Grvt funding partner Further Ventures, both of which had previously invested in or partnered with Grvt. Other participants included Eigen Cloud (formerly EigenLayer), a verifiable cloud platform, and 500 Global, a venture capital firm managing $2.3 billion in assets.

This comes just months after Further Ventures injected $5 million into GRVT in January 2025 to accelerate its Middle East expansion and regulatory licensing.

Faisal Al Hammadi, Managing Partner, Further Ventures reiterated that the firm remains committed to backing the next generation of financial infrastructure from Abu Dhabi to the world emphasizing that Grvt’s application of zero-knowledge proofs is keen reflection on how cutting edge cryptography can support markets at institutional scale.

Why UAE Grvt funding matters for financial privacy

UAE Grvt funding highlights the urgent push for more secure and private financial infrastructure. Grvt is tackling longstanding vulnerabilities in decentralized finance, such as privacy gaps, whale hunting, and maximum extractable value (MEV) attacks—issues that contribute to billions in annual losses.

“By building a privacy-driven, scalable, and trustless DEX that offers a wide array of structured products, Grvt exemplifies how ZK-powered solutions will become the new normal,” — Hong Yea, Co-founder and CEO, Grvt.

With Ethereum’s onchain volume topping $320 billion in August 2025—the highest since mid-2021—the demand for more robust DeFi platforms has never been stronger. Research projects that the sector could surge from $32.36 billion in 2025 to over $1.5 trillion by 2034, positioning UAE Grvt funding as a critical enabler of this growth.

ZKsync technology as the backbone of UAE Grvt funding

A defining feature of Grvt’s innovation is its use of ZKsync Validium L2 blockchain, which validates transactions without publishing sensitive data, thereby guaranteeing privacy. This model inherits Ethereum-level security by ensuring each transaction batch is verified on-chain, providing mathematical proof of validity.

“We believe ZK is the ‘HTTPS moment’ for crypto. Just as HTTPS took the internet mainstream, ZK will do the same for Web3. Grvt is uniquely positioned to be the most liquid and impactful application layer to realize this vision,” — Alex Gluchoski, Co-founder and CEO, Matter Labs.

Beyond privacy and security, UAE Grvt funding supports scalability, with ZKsync enabling significantly faster and cheaper transactions compared to Ethereum’s base layer. This technical foundation strengthens Grvt’s bid to become the global blueprint for onchain finance.

UAE Grvt funding to accelerate product development and expansion

Grvt plans to deploy the $19 million from UAE Grvt funding to speed up product development, engineering, and new services. Upcoming features include cross-exchange vaults, options markets, and real-world asset integrations—tools designed to unify the fragmented landscape of decentralized finance.

Funds will also support community initiatives and talent acquisition to bolster international expansion. With backing from ADQ’s $200 million allocation to digital assets and fintech, Further Ventures’ UAE Grvt funding reflects a wider national strategy to establish Abu Dhabi as a global hub for financial innovation.

Grvt’s progress demonstrates how UAE Grvt funding is more than capital—it is a deliberate move to set the standard for secure, private, and scalable financial ecosystems on a global stage.