Token issuance platform Umia raised $6.1 million through a seven-day on-chain auction, selling 17.3 million UMIA tokens at an $18 million fully diluted valuation. The sale accounted for 34.6% of total supply, and all tokens became tradable as soon as the auction ended, with no lock-up period.
Auction structure sold 34.6% of supply on equal terms for funds and retail
Umia co-founder and CEO Francesco Mosterts said the team deliberately sold a large portion of supply so early supporters could receive meaningful allocations, rather than face the common setup of a thin circulating supply followed by heavy unlock-related selling pressure later on.
The auction was conducted on Base from Aug. 26 to Sept. 2 using Umia’s modified version of Uniswap’s Continuous Clearing Auction mechanism. The minimum fundraising target was $2 million, and the maximum token price was set at $0.36.
About 45% of the capital came from institutional investors. Ten funds joined the auction, including Galaxy Ventures, Digital Currency Group (DCG), Draper Associates, RenGen, Alpha EV, Maven 11 and Eon Capital. Nearly 700 individual bidders participated at the same time. Mosterts said all funds and retail bidders entered under identical terms, with no discounts.
UMIA trades around $0.68, lifting FDV to about $34 million
According to CoinGecko data, UMIA is currently trading at about $0.68, putting its FDV at roughly $34 million, nearly double the valuation used in the fundraising round.
Umia said 20% of the proceeds were used to create a protocol-owned UMIA-USDC liquidity pool on Uniswap v4, while the rest was placed into treasury.
The platform’s revenue model includes a decision market in which token holders take part. Umia charges a 0.5% fee on spot trading in decentralized exchange pools and a 1% fee on decision market trades. Each new project is assigned a monthly development budget of $120,000, and any spending above that level or any budget adjustment must be approved through the UMIA decision market.
Legal structure combines IP, operating team and treasury in one entity
One of Umia’s main selling points is its legal structure. For each project, intellectual property, the operating team and treasury are placed under the same legal entity and tied directly to the token, instead of being split across a company, a foundation and a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, as is common in many crypto projects.
Mosterts said this structure is meant to ensure that value created by a project flows to token holders rather than remaining with founders, shareholders or a separate foundation.
Umia also uses a decision market in place of traditional token voting. Traders bet on how token prices are expected to perform under different proposals, and the option with the highest time-weighted average price is executed on-chain. Mosterts said this is more direct than token-holder voting, which he said often has limited effect, while equity financing gives venture investors board seats.
First outside project is Slop.cash from ai16z founder Shaw
Umia’s curation committee has selected three outside projects to launch tokens through the platform. The first is Slop.cash, a new project created by Shaw, founder of ai16z, now known as ElizaOS. It is expected to go live in the fourth quarter. The other two projects will be announced soon.
Umia has received more than 200 applications so far, spanning AI infrastructure, AI applications, DeFi, tokenized funds, real-world assets and fintech.
All applicants must go through internal due diligence before presenting to the curation committee. The committee includes investors from Maven 11 and RenGen, as well as representatives from data analytics platform 01resolved. Projects that pass the process receive support across technology, finance, design, tax, legal and public relations.
Competition grows as Charter Foundation enters the market
Last month, GSR, Ink Foundation and several legal and audit firms launched Charter Foundation, a platform focused on lowering the cost of token sales. Mosterts said Umia’s distinction lies in offering an integrated package of legal shell, decision market, on-chain auction and full launch process, rather than a single infrastructure layer.
Umia is currently operated by a seven-person team and was incubated by Ethereum development company Chainbound, which the report said has worked with Flashbots and the Ethereum Foundation. Mosterts previously worked at Point72. Co-founder and CTO Nicolas Racchi has built multiple DeFi protocols and Ethereum infrastructure products. The team is now hiring business development staff to support the due diligence process.
Token sales move toward a service-based platform model
Umia’s fundraising round points to a shift in token issuance from project teams handling every step themselves to a platform-based service model. In the past, new projects had to find lawyers, build auction systems and set up liquidity on their own. Platforms such as Umia and Charter Foundation are packaging those steps into a product.
The report said demand for this kind of infrastructure may rise as more AI projects move into token launches, with Slop.cash described as an early signal. The next test is whether Umia’s decision market model can show an advantage over traditional DAO governance in its first outside project, a result that would directly affect the platform’s brand credibility and the scale of future fundraising.