Variational announces $1.5 million strategic funding round and launches growth initiative
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Variational announces $1.5 million strategic funding round and launches growth initiative
Variational is a peer-to-peer trading protocol for perpetual futures and general derivatives.
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Variational powers Omni, a platform enabling users to trade perpetual futures across hundreds of markets with zero fees. Variational, a peer-to-peer derivatives trading protocol built on Arbitrum, today announced it has raised $1.5 million in strategic funding from Mirana Ventures, Caladan, Zoku Ventures (formerly Superpotion), and other key partners. This marks the latest milestone following Variational’s $10.3 million seed round announced last September and the private testnet launch of Omni.
Omni is a perpetual futures trading platform powered by the Variational protocol, offering zero trading fees and tight spreads across hundreds of markets. Instead of an order book, Omni relies on a request-for-quote infrastructure and vertically integrated market makers known as Omni Liquidity Providers (OLPs).
Lucas V. Schuermann, Founder and CEO of Variational, said: “The goal of this strategic raise was to align with partners who can support Variational’s long-term growth. Whether they’re market makers who can assist OLPs or well-connected teams that can help introduce Omni to traders, every participant in this round will directly contribute to our success.”
Since launching Omni’s private testnet in January last year, Variational has announced that Omni will remain permanently fee-free, onboarded thousands of waitlisted users, processed over $100 million in trading volume, and achieved an 87% annualized return for its upcoming OLP vault. Today, Variational takes the next step toward opening Omni’s private testnet with the release of the first version of its referral program—allowing users to invite their friends to join Omni.
Max Bibeau, Head of Growth at Variational, said: “Building a strong organic community around Variational has always been one of our top goals. Launching the first version of our referral program will enable Omni to expand our core community through word-of-mouth, while also giving our earliest supporters a chance to earn rewards.”
The Omni referral program launches today: users unlock a referral code upon reaching a trading volume threshold, granting them the ability to invite others. These codes can be used to invite users into Omni’s private testnet—the only way to gain access currently. While Variational commits to incentivizing referrals, full details will be shared in the future when the reward application goes live. The complete announcement from the Variational team is available on their blog.
John Gu, Co-Founder and CEO of Caladan, said: “Variational’s unique market design enables differentiated pricing for different types of flow. As a result, retail traders get better prices and broader product access, without implicitly subsidizing high-frequency trading flows as they do in order book markets. We’re excited to see retail traders benefit from zero fees, tight pricing, and a rich selection of tokens.”
Variational’s roadmap for the remainder of 2025 includes implementing loss rebates and other novel reward mechanisms, launching Omni’s public mainnet, announcing mainnet incentives, and opening the OLP vault to community deposits. Users can track progress via Variational’s X account. Those interested in obtaining a referral code for private testnet access can join the Variational Discord.
About Variational
Variational is a peer-to-peer trading protocol for perpetual futures and general derivatives. It automates the entire process of trading and settlement to enable secure bilateral trades across options, futures, perpetuals, and more. The Variational protocol powers Omni, a zero-fee perpetual futures trading platform supporting hundreds of markets, many of which are unavailable elsewhere.
Built by a seasoned team with decades of experience in market making and software engineering, Variational is backed by Coinbase Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto, Dragonfly, and others.
For more information, visit https://variational.io.
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