Unlocking the Vault
How Upshift tripled their TVL by uncovering new user segments with Safary
Upshift Finance thought their users preferred passive strategies until Safary revealed that their users were actively managing complex positions. Discover how deep insights into wallet behaviors enabled Upshift to reshape their user segmentation, vault strategies, and targeted growth initiatives.
This is a conversation between:
Justin Vogel, Co-founder of Safary – customer data platform to reach, engage, and retain your best crypto users
Ethan Luc, Growth Lead at Upshift
About Upshift:
Upshift is a leading vault platform making it easy for users to earn the best yields across DeFi and CeFi. They do this by providing vaults, where institutional funds offer access to their top-performing yield strategies. For example, there are currently several vaults offering 15%+ APY on USDC.
Safary has been proud to partner with Upshift since March 2025.
Justin: Could you share the challenges Upshift faced before integrating Safary?
Ethan: Before Safary, we had almost no visibility into our funnel data. It was nearly impossible to link off-chain acquisition channels to wallet connects and subsequent on-chain actions like vault deposits. Pulling data from platforms like Debank was extremely manual, making it difficult to build a clear picture of user profiles. On top of that, user segmentation was a major challenge; we didn’t even know how many unique users our wallet data actually represented.
Justin: Were you primarily looking to use Safary for growth or BD?
Ethan: Mainly growth, though Safary has boosted our BD efforts as well. I often use Safary to identify interesting wallets, pull their social profiles directly, or cross-reference Debank and Twitter to reach out more personally. It’s made our outreach far more targeted.
Justin: What were the primary goals you hoped to achieve with Safary?
Ethan: Our main objective was to gain a complete, end-to-end view of our growth funnel, broken down by marketing sources. We recently ran an incentive campaign, multiplying points for a specific vault. Safary helped us clearly measure the effectiveness and see exactly how much was deposited through that campaign.
Justin: What specific results have you experienced since implementing Safary?
Ethan: The most immediate benefit was gaining deeper insights into user behavior. When we analyzed significant deposits (over $10K), we discovered many of these wallets held positions in Pendle or had converted Upshift tokens into Pendle.
This insight was unexpected. We previously thought these users were passive, lower-risk yield farmers. Instead, they actively managed their portfolios and engaged deeply with sophisticated financial strategies. This critical realization has guided our decisions on introducing new vaults and informed how we position and frame these offerings to resonate more effectively with these user segments.
Additionally, understanding funnel performance at a granular level has allowed us to allocate our marketing resources more efficiently, prioritizing channels and experiments with proven results.
Justin: What metrics or KPIs are you focusing on with Safary?
Ethan: We closely track visitors transitioning to wallet connections across all marketing sources, focusing specifically at the vault level. These serve as our critical north star metrics. We also monitor wallet retention, analyze withdrawals, and we’ll soon integrate NPS surveys directly into our frontend to gauge user satisfaction and engagement.
Justin: Looking back, what has been Safary’s biggest impact on Upshift?
Ethan: Without question, Safary’s greatest impact has been the unprecedented clarity provided around our growth funnel. Understanding the complete user journey, from initial touch points to final deposits, has been transformative. Equally significant is our newfound ability to deeply understand user behaviors through wallet-level insights, directly influencing both our product development and retention strategies.
Justin: Anything else you’d like to add about your experience with Safary?
Ethan: The experience has been fantastic. Special shoutout to Max, who has patiently addressed all my inquiries. We're currently leveraging Safary’s V3 API to build customized dashboards tailored specifically to our needs, and we eagerly anticipate further enhancements.
Conclusion:
Safary has fundamentally transformed Upshift’s understanding of their users and growth funnel. By revealing hidden segments of active, sophisticated investors, Upshift is now better equipped to deliver targeted vault strategies, refine their marketing outreach, and drive sustained growth. The ongoing collaboration continues to provide invaluable insights, positioning Upshift to adapt dynamically to user behaviors and optimize their product offerings.