Treehouse Finance, a decentralized finance startup, has achieved a $400 million valuation in a new funding round. The funding was structured as a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) and closed last year. The lead investor is believed to be MassMutual Ventures, although not officially confirmed. Other notable investors include Guy Young, Darius Sit, and Rich Teo. Treehouse focuses on fixed-income products in DeFi, offering Decentralized Offered Rates (DOR) and tAssets. The company plans to launch its mainnet in June and establish an ecosystem fund to support adoption. Treehouse aims to expand its offerings and scale its team strategically.

Treehouse Finance, a decentralized finance startup focused on fixed-income products, has raised an undisclosed amount in a new strategic funding round at a $400 million valuation. That figure represents the fully diluted valuation (FDV) of Treehouse's yet-to-launch native token, co-founder and CEO Brandon Goh told The Block.Goh said the funding round was structured as a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) and closed late last year. He added that Treehouse's previous $18 million seed round, completed over three years ago in March 2022, was also structured as a SAFT.Treehouse Finance did not name its lead investor but described it as "the venture arm of one of the largest life insurance and financial services firms managing over $500 billion in assets." The investor appears to be MassMutual Ventures, which also backed Treehouse's seed round. MassMutual Ventures declined to comment when contacted by The Block.Other participants in the latest round include notable angel investors such as Ethena's Guy Young, QCP Capital's Darius Sit, Paxos' Rich Teo, Etherscan's Matthew Tan, Selini Capital's Jordi Alexander, and Algoquant's Michael Ashby, formerly of Point72 Asset Management."We intentionally kept this new funding round lean and strategic to onboard high-impact contributors, aligning with our next phase of growth," Goh said. "The goal was quality of partnerships over capital raised."As part of the deal, the lead investor and one returning backer took board seats at Treehouse, Goh said, declining to name them.Founded in 2021 and based in Singapore, Treehouse is currently building infrastructure to bring fixed-income products to DeFi.Goh noted that the traditional fixed-income market, including fixed-income derivatives, is worth over $600 trillion — five times the size of equities and commodities — and said DeFi has a massive opportunity to support products like bonds with purpose-built infrastructure."The crypto fixed-income market is underdeveloped due to missing infrastructure," Goh said. "Treehouse enables a new asset class by introducing benchmark rates to power massive product innovation (fixed loans and bonds) and institutional capital into DeFi fixed-income markets."Treehouse's core offerings include Decentralized Offered Rates (DOR) and tAssets (Treehouse Assets).DOR is a decentralized benchmark rate system for crypto, starting with ETH staking. "Acting as crypto's LIBOR [London Interbank Offered Rate] and SOFR [Secured Overnight Financing Rate], DOR enables standard pricing for fixed-income products and derivatives, laying the foundation for a robust digital asset ecosystem," Goh said. DOR aggregates data and forecasts from trading venues and experts into a transparent rate table, accessible via oracle, he added.tAssets, on the other hand, are yield-generating instruments, starting with tETH, which launched last year. Users deposit ETH to receive tETH, which is redeemable for the original ETH plus yield. "A smart contract dynamically optimizes between staking and interest rate arbitrage across EVM [Ethereum Virtual Machine] chains, ensuring yields comparable to native staking with additional returns from market inefficiencies," Goh said.Since launching tETH in September 2024, Treehouse said its platform has attracted over 30,000 unique wallet holders and more than 120,000 ETH in deposits.As for Treehouse's business model, it is is fee-based, including performance fees on tAssets and operator, panelist, and referencer fees related to its oracle-like systems, Goh noted.The DOR is currently in beta, with a mainnet launch targeted for June. Asked whether Treehouse's token will launch alongside the mainnet, Goh declined to comment on timing.Following the launch, Treehouse plans to establish an "eight-figure" ecosystem fund — or at least $10 million — to support adoption across both DeFi and institutional channels.The roadmap also includes expanding tAssets to other base assets and chains. "As with any protocol building new infrastructure, adoption and education remain key challenges," Goh acknowledged. "Establishing trust and usage around benchmark rates and structured yield products will take time, but we're confident in our approach and team."Treehouse currently employs over 40 people, and Goh plans to "thoughtfully scale" headcount across ecosystem, regulatory and growth teams.The startup may raise additional funds in the near future. "We still have investors who have expressed interest, but we are not keen on onboarding them at this time," Goh said.The Funding newsletter:Stay updated on the latest crypto funding news and trends with my free bimonthly newsletter, The Funding. Sign uphere!

Treehouse Finance Achieves $400 Million Valuation in Strategic Funding Round