Liquid Compute has raised a $15 million seed round and filed applications with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization status, according to founder Ronit Jain. The company said it wants to build what it described as the first regulated order book for trading compute contracts with both cash-settled and physically delivered structures. Liquid Compute argues that compute is heterogeneous and cannot be stored, making it closer to electricity than oil. Based on that view, it plans to build an efficient short-term market first, then support a cash-settled derivatives layer that operates in a model similar to PJM or ERCOT. Over the past few months, the firm said it has worked with Susquehanna International Group, BGC Group and Wintermute to provide liquidity in OTC transactions for AI startups, neocloud providers and lenders. The round was co-led by Chemistry and FirstMark Cap, with participation from K8 Cap, Night Capital, UFO Holdings, TrueBridge CP, Brainchild Holdings, Y Combinator, Dmitry Balyasny and angel investors from companies including CoreWeave, Jane Street and OpenAI.

Liquid Compute CEO Ronit Jain described how buyers of compute, GPU holders and lenders using those assets are exposed to compute-price moves, and laid out a framework for hedging that risk with cash-settled contracts tied to an index. In his explanation, the hedge is designed to lock in future pricing without requiring any transfer of GPUs. Jain said enterprises can buy forwards to fix the cost of next year’s capacity as a budget item while still sourcing from any supplier. He also said neocloud providers can sell forwards to convert uncontracted hours into fixed cash flow, giving lenders a basis for extending credit. On sale-leaseback residual value, he pointed to rolling near-dated forwards once a window enters a tradable range, or buying forward put options, with more liquid front-end contracts potentially used to fund option premiums. He added that a hedge locks in price rather than quantity, so it will not fully match realized rates in every case. He also noted that hedging carries a cost, either through giving up favorable price moves or paying option premiums. On the legal side, parties typically need an ISDA Master Agreement, permission to use the settlement index, and a decision on how much exposure to hedge.