PIPExchange (PEX) is the Web3 layer of the PIPE ecosystem: two smart contracts, two instruments, and a regulated marketplace for university IP that has never existed before. Equity in validated Protégé Companies. Revenue Tokens issued monthly from trading revenue. All managed on-chain through the Asset Manager and Permissions Manager contracts.
Every project validated in PIPE Lab to IPO (QED) · IIC-approved projects only reach PIPExchange
The PIPE ecosystem operates across two distinct layers. PIPE Lab to IPO (QED) is where projects are validated; PEX is where validated projects become investable. Nothing reaches PEX without completing the full PIPE Lab to IPO (QED) pathway.
Hosts the QED process, Disclosure & Validation system, and the Napkin Idea pre-disclosure mechanism. This is where every Protégé Company begins its journey through structured stage gates, 11 assessment streams, and immutable evidence recording.
QED gates include the mandatory audited revenue certification that triggers Revenue Token issuance on the PEX, built into the gate framework, not an external obligation.
No Protégé Company reaches PEX without completing every QED gate and passing Independent Investment Committee (IIC) review.
The exchange infrastructure. Two primary Solidity contracts — Asset Manager and Permissions Manager — govern all asset holdings, investor positions, funding allocations, and token issuance for IIC-approved Protégé Companies.
Growth Tokens represent fractional equity. Revenue Tokens represent monthly revenue obligations. Both instruments are held, tracked, and transferred through the Asset Manager, which verifies all actions against PM-held permissions.
Investor positions — gDAO, xxDAO, PIN members — interact with the PEX through their PM-managed permissions. AML/KYC clearance required for all meaningful operations.
Every action in the PEX follows a single rule: the Asset Manager checks the Permissions Manager before executing anything. No transfer, issuance, or allocation occurs without a valid Permissions Manager permit. This architecture makes the PEX both flexible and tamper-resistant.
Both contracts are built to EIP-2535 (Diamond) standards as multi-faceted upgradable proxies. Functionality is extendable and correctable where explicit permission exists to update the proxy references. 411 callable functions currently implemented across Asset Manager and Permissions Manager.
The PEX Asset Manager holds and tracks four categories of asset. Each is created and transferred through defined processes within the Asset Manager/PM framework.
When an external ERC-20 is deposited into the Asset Manager, ownership transfers to the Asset Manager. The depositor is credited 90–95% of the deposit quantity as a shadow token — an internal token with a fixed 1:1 peg to the underlying. The remaining 5–10% goes to the onboarding gDAO or xxDAO. Shadow tokens are redeemable 1:1 for the underlying ERC-20 at any time (plus gas only). Lock-up terms are set by the onboarding DAO.
Represents fractional ownership of an equity deposit made by a Protégé Company to the Asset Manager. The Asset Manager assigns fractional ownership to parties supplying the purchase funds. Growth tokens have variable value reflecting the increase in value of the underlying equity deposit. Purchased using shadow tokens. These are the equity instrument — the traditional upside participation for investors in high-growth Protégé Companies.
Issued by the Asset Manager when a monthly QED revenue declaration triggers the token component of the revenue obligation. Face value £1 per token. Market price set by PEX trading activity — reflects the Protégé Company's revenue trajectory. Tradeable immediately from issuance. Available to universities, founders, PIPE, gDAO, xxDAO, and PIN members. Being structured as a regulated instrument under the UK Digital Securities Sandbox.
PAN members, Guilds, and service providers log effort against a project as agreed hours — a unit of value for work contributed during development. At the point of project funding, agreed hours are resolved as either 50% of face value in cash, or 100% of face value as an equity position. This minimises cash impact on the project while rewarding contributors. Rights to agreed hours are transferable within the PEX.
PEX offers two distinct tradeable instruments, serving different investor profiles and different risk/return objectives. Both are available to any PIN-cleared investor. Both are managed through the Asset Manager.
Fractional ownership of a Protégé Company's equity deposit in the Asset Manager. Variable value reflecting company growth. The traditional upside instrument for investors backing high-potential university spinouts through IIC approval and beyond.
Issued monthly when audited revenue declarations in QED trigger the token component of the Protégé Company's revenue obligation. Immediately tradeable. Available to universities, founders, and all investor positions including gDAO and xxDAO.
PEX instruments are being structured as regulated financial instruments under the UK Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS), established jointly by the FCA and Bank of England and operational since September 2024. The DSS provides the first viable regulated pathway for tokenised university IP instruments in the UK. PIPE is positioning as one of the first applicants in the university IP category — a position that shapes the permanent regulatory framework for this asset class.
No Protégé Company reaches PEX launch without passing every QED stage gate and receiving IIC approval. The process is immutable, auditable, and systematic — the same for every project regardless of sector, size, or university of origin.
The project completes all QED stages: Disclosure & Validation, Evaluation, and Launch preparation. Each stage gate requires specific evidence deliverables and produces an immutable record on distributed ledger infrastructure. Assessment scores are updated across all 11 streams at each gate.
The Independent Investment Committee (IIC), composed of PAN/PIN members external to the project, verifies that all QED gates have been correctly qualified. The system also performs automated verification. IIC approval is the required trigger for PEX launch. IIC members require an identity within the system to authorise.
On IIC approval, the Protégé Company assigns a block of equity to the Asset Manager, which assigns fractional ownership (growth tokens) to parties supplying the purchasing funds. Investor positions state their preference for this launch: gDAO fixed at 1, xxDAO and PIN at 0–5. Funding is committed proportionally to preference and uncommitted asset levels.
Funds committed at launch are not released immediately. The AM holds them and releases in tranches as specific, agreed, multi-signature-authorised KPI milestones are met. This structure protects all investor positions and ensures capital is deployed only as the company demonstrates progress.
The first monthly audited revenue declaration in QED triggers the Asset Manager to calculate and issue Revenue Tokens according to the five parameters set at formation. University and founder receive their shares in the agreed cash/token ratio. PIPE, co-investors, gDAO, and xxDAO positions can purchase tokens immediately on the PEX secondary market.
Revenue Tokens are issued monthly for the duration of the obligation period (typically 10–15 years). Growth tokens trade on PEX as the company's equity value develops. Both instruments create continuous, market-generated price signals for the Protégé Company's commercial performance throughout its lifecycle.
Every investor position in the PEX is managed through the Permissions Manager and executed through the Asset Manager. AML/KYC clearance is required for all meaningful operations. The funding preference system ensures no single position can dominate, by design.
An external DAO with an AML/KYC-cleared agent interacting with the PEX. The gDAO's preference weight is fixed at 1 — hard-coded in the Asset Manager, unable to be raised or lowered. This means the gDAO always participates but never dominates. The gDAO is obligated to absorb any funding shortfall on IIC-approved launches where xxDAO preference is insufficient: it is the floor that ensures every approved launch receives its capital commitment.
The gDAO sponsors xxDAOs and receives a levy on each xxDAO's deposits. Multiple gDAOs can exist — it is a class of investor position, not a unique role.
Explore the PIPE gDAO →A DAO created as a sponsored investment position from a gDAO, to which it pays a levy. The levy ensures the parent gDAO always holds at least 5–10% of the xxDAO's initial deposit size, preventing unchecked concentration of funding power. xxDAOs can express a preference of 0–5 on each IIC-authorised launch, directly influencing the proportion of their initial investment committed. An xxDAO can subsequently change sponsorship to another gDAO offering better levy rates.
xxDAOs are the mechanism through which communities, thematic funds, and specialist investor groups participate in the PEX with active selection capability.
AML/KYC-cleared PAN members who can provide capital for investment, view projects approaching PEX launch, and participate in IIC review. PIN members express preference 0–5 on launches. At least one PIN member is required per namespace for the namespace to function fully.
Access to pre-launch project information is a PIN-specific privilege not available to PAN or gDAO members.
Identified PIPE participants contributing skills for agreed hours. PAN members may progress to PIN status after AML/KYC clearance. Guilds — groupings of PAN members — contract to deliver project work and earn agreed hours that convert to cash or equity at funding.
PAN provides the expert operator layer that makes QED assessment meaningful — domain-specific assessment by practitioners, not generalists.
Join as a PIPE Associate →When a Protégé Company is IIC-authorised for PEX launch, each investor position states a preference. Base funding proportion is determined by each investor's uncommitted assets in proportion to the total. The preference multiplier (0–5, gDAO fixed at 1) then scales this base proportion. The gDAO's fixed preference of 1 ensures it always participates and absorbs shortfalls, but never dominates a launch where xxDAO and PIN members have expressed high preference.
Whether you are an investor seeking Growth Token or Revenue Token exposure, a DAO looking to hold a gDAO or xxDAO position, or a researcher whose Protégé Company is approaching IIC approval — your next step starts here.