Polygon Raises a $450 Million Funding Seed to Develop web3 Capabilities

Polygon, a decentralized Ethereum scaling platform, announced on Monday that it raised $450 million in a new funding round led by Sequoia Capital India. Over 40 venture capital firms also participated in the round, including Republic Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Animoca Brands, Steadview Capital, Galaxy Digital, Tiger Global, Vision Fund 2, SoftBank, among others. The funding brings Polygon’s valuation to stand at $2 billion.

Polygon said that it plans to use the fresh funding to expand its business services, as part of its efforts to scale Ethereum in order to remove the need for alternative blockchains and develop web3 capabilities. Additionally, the multichain platform intends to use the capital to develop Web3 decentralized applications (dApps) as well as build on its current suite of Web3 scaling solutions, including Polygon Avail, Polygon Edge and Polygon PoS, which are similar to Amazon Web Services (AWS) offerings for Web2 developer (a tool for many potential use cases). Most of Polygon’s scaling products use the ‘zero-knowledge rollup technology’ that enables multiple transactions to be executed on its blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Read this Term network and converted into a single transaction. Moreover, the firm plans to use the funds to invest further in zero-knowledge (ZK) technology, which would help onboard the next billion users to Ethereum.

A Co-Founder of Polygon, Sandeep Nailwal stated: "Web3 builds on the early internet's open-source ideals, enabling users to create the value, control the network and reap the rewards. Ethereum Ethereum Ethereum is an open source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality. Created in 2014, Ethereum now stands as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the time of writing.As a decentralized cryptocurrency network and software platform, Ethereum represents the most prominent altcoin. Ethereum also enables the creation Distributed Applications, or dapps. Understanding EthereumEthereum boasts its own programming language, Ethereum is an open source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality. Created in 2014, Ethereum now stands as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the time of writing.As a decentralized cryptocurrency network and software platform, Ethereum represents the most prominent altcoin. Ethereum also enables the creation Distributed Applications, or dapps. Understanding EthereumEthereum boasts its own programming language, Read this Term, scaled by Polygon, will be the bedrock of this next stage in the Web's evolution. Technological disruption didn't start with Web2, nor is it going to end there. That’s why we are very excited to see some of the same firms that funded the previous round of innovation now being our Web3 vision."

Meanwhile, Shailesh Lakhani, the Managing Director at Sequoia India, commented on why they backed Polygon: “Thousands of developers across a range of applications are choosing Polygon and their complete set of scaling solutions for the Ethereum ecosystem. This is an ambitious and aggressive team, one that values innovation at its core. Sequoia Capital India is thrilled to lead this significant financing round.”

How Polygon Gained Dominance

Last year, Polygon (MATIC), an Indian origin cryptocurrency behind Polygon, the blockchain platform, swiftly rose in popularity, despite market volatility that was witnessed at the time. While major crypto coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and others saw a plunge in June last year, the value of MATIC rose almost 35% in the same period.

The aftermath of the bear market caused several investors to look out for the next big thing. Polygon (MATIC) appears to have fallen under their radar. It ranked among the top 15 largest cryptocurrencies across the world and the cryptocurrency has become a massive hit in India. A surge in user requests led firms such as CMC Markets to list the currency on their platforms.