LayerZero Labs became the latest blockchain startup to achieve the status of a unicorn after the company raised $135 million in its recent funding round. The investment round was co-led by Sequoia, FTX Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
LayerZero Labs noted that the investment will facilitate the development of dApps. Additionally, the company is planning to expand its operations through funding. Prominent names in the venture capital industry, including Coinbase Ventures, PayPal Ventures, Tiger Global and Uniswap Labs also joined the recent funding round.
The company aims to facilitate the blockchain ecosystem through an omnichain interoperability protocol that unites dApps across disparate blockchains. With a valuation of more than $1 billion, LayerZero Labs is one of the most valuable blockchain startups.
“LayerZero unlocks a future of blockchains without borders. Users will interact with omnichain dApps that exist on multiple blockchains. These dApps will seamlessly communicate over LayerZero without the user even realizing it,” said Ryan Zarick, the CTO and Co-Founder at LayerZero Labs.
According to LayerZero, its platform will assist the development of an efficient crypto user experience.
Blockchain Funding
Companies working in the crypto and blockchain ecosystem raised billions of dollars in 2021, and the trend has continued in 2022 as well. In January this year, digital exchange FTX raised $400 million in its Series C funding round and received a valuation of $32 billion.
Furthermore, Ventures capital firms like Sequoia increased investment in global crypto companies. “LayerZero Labs is solving one of the most important and highest value problems in crypto,” said Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia. “The early success of Stargate shows the potential for a new ecosystem to be developed on top of LayerZero, and we look forward to helping the team grow and nurture this community.”
“We had conviction in a cross-chain future, but the technology to enable it was insufficient, until we met LayerZero,” commented Michelle Bailhe, a partner at Sequoia.
