Liquid Compute completed a $15 million seed round and applied for CFTC qualification

Liquid Compute founder Ronit Jain announced that the company has completed a $15 million seed round financing and has submitted applications for Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) qualifications to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to build the first regulated order book for trading cash-settled and physically delivered computing power contracts.

The company stated that computing power has heterogeneous and non-storable characteristics, similar to electricity rather than oil. Its path is to first build an efficient short-term market, then support a cash-settled derivatives layer, operating similarly to PJM or ERCOT. In recent months, Liquid Compute has collaborated with financial institutions such as Susquehanna International Group, BGC Group, and Wintermute to provide liquidity for AI startups, neocloud providers, and lenders through OTC trading.

This round of financing was co-led by Chemistry and FirstMark Cap, with participation from K8 Cap, Night Capital, UFO Holdings, TrueBridge CP, Brainchild Holdings, Y Combinator, and angel investors from companies like Dmitry Balyasny, CoreWeave, Jane Street, and OpenAI.