US-based blockchain scaling technology developer Offchain Labs has raised $120m across two rounds this year with participation from quantitative trading firm Alameda Research.
Venture Capital firm Lightspeed Ventures led the $100m series B round at a $1.2bn valuation. Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital, Ribbit Capital, Redpoint Ventures and private investors including Mark Cuban also backed the series B round.
Offchain raised $20m in its April 2021 series A from undisclosed investors, following a $3.7m Pantera Capital-led seed round that closed in April 2019 featuring individual investors.
Spun out of Princeton University in 2018, Offchain Labs develops layers on top of cryptocurrency Ethereum to provide scale. It has created a protocol called Arbitrum, a Layer 2 roll up network that allows side chains and state channels to handle transactions faster, cheaper and more conducive to scaling.
Simultaneously with its series B close, Offchain announced yesterday that its Arbitrum One mainnet would be open to the public after being in beta since May 2021.
Steven Goldfeder, co-founder and chief executive of Offchain Labs, said: “We are excited to partner with our investors who understand the importance of scaling Ethereum and bringing the Ethereum ecosystem to the masses.
“The tremendous support we have seen from developers across the globe validates our mission to be the first to marry the world of fintech and [decentralised finance].”
