# Will Villanueva

> Will Villanueva is the co-founder and CEO of DELV (formerly Element Finance), a San Francisco-based decentralized finance company building fixed and variable yield markets on Ethereum. A physicist by training and former Ethereum researcher at ConsenSys, he co-founded Element Finance with Jonny Rhea in 2020 to bring fixed-rate income to DeFi. The company raised a $32M Series A in 2021 at a $320M valuation and later rebranded to DELV, whose flagship product Hyperdrive reimagines fixed and variable rate markets with an everlasting-liquidity AMM design.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at DELV (formerly Element Finance)
- **Organizations:** DELV, Element Finance, ConsenSys, Bounties Network, 6sense, OpenGov Procurement (formerly ProcureNow)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Physics, Math minor (concentration in Biology & Chemistry, Pre-Med), New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads DELV (formerly Element Finance), a full-stack DeFi company, Raised roughly $36.4M in total funding, including a $32M Series A at a $320M valuation, Attracted backing from Polychain Capital, a16z, Placeholder, Ethereal Ventures and DeFi founders including Rune Christensen, Stani Kulechov, Kain Warwick and Fernando Martinelli

## Career timeline

- **pre-2018** — Worked in software engineering and product roles at 6sense and ProcureNow (later OpenGov Procurement)
- **2018-2020** — Ethereum researcher and engineer at ConsenSys, including work with Bounties Network; researched Eth1 and Eth2
- **2020** — Co-founded Element Finance with Jonny Rhea to build fixed and variable yield markets
- **2021-03** — Element Finance raised $4.4M to bring liquidity to fixed rate income and interest markets
- **2021-06** — Element Protocol deployed live on Ethereum mainnet
- **2021-09** — Led 'DeFi: The Future of Finance' panel at TOKEN2049 London
- **2021-10** — Element Finance closed $32M Series A led by Polychain Capital at a $320M valuation
- **2023-2024** — Company rebranded to DELV; launched Hyperdrive protocol for fixed and variable rates
- **2025-05** — DELV / Hyperdrive completed a further Series A raise reported at $6M

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads DELV (formerly Element Finance), a full-stack DeFi company
- Raised roughly $36.4M in total funding, including a $32M Series A at a $320M valuation
- Attracted backing from Polychain Capital, a16z, Placeholder, Ethereal Ventures and DeFi founders including Rune Christensen, Stani Kulechov, Kain Warwick and Fernando Martinelli
- Shipped the Element Protocol to Ethereum mainnet and launched a governance DAO with a token airdrop
- Led development of Hyperdrive, an AMM offering fixed and variable rates with everlasting liquidity and no preset expiration

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — DELV's Hyperdrive completed a reported $6M Series A raise as it expanded fixed-rate yield and borrow products.
- **2025-03** — A vulnerability was identified in Hyperdrive smart contracts under specific conditions; the team responded to protect liquidity providers.

## Links

- Website: https://delv.tech
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamvillanueva/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/wjvill

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/will-villanueva
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-22