LayerZero, a multi-blockchain omnichannel interoperability protocol firm, said it has raised a $6 million funding round co-led by Binance Labs, the venture capital firm and incubator of Binance, and Multicoin Capital.
The round was joined by Sino Global Capital, Defiance, Delphi Digital, Robot Ventures, Spartan, Hypersphere Ventures, Protocol Ventures, and Gen Block Capital.
LayerZero previously raised $2 million in seed funding. The company said it will use the new funds to further the development of LayerZero endpoints across the ecosystem and drive the adoption of the protocol. The project is currently under audit and is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The project calls itself an “omnichain interoperability protocol” designed to connect disparate blockchains by passing messages between chains.
“DeFi applications have spread out and deployed across multiple chains due to high fees and evolving investor preferences. This has led to severe fragmentation across the market. LayerZero solves this problem by uniting liquidity across chains and making it possible to transact in, out, and across disparate networks with ease,” said Bryan Pellegrino, co-founder of LayerZero.
Current solutions work either by providing centralised solutions using hub-and-spoke models, such as Polkadot, or by running on-chain light nodes such as Cosmos IDC. The former loses security and the latter can become expensive on Ethereum.
“LayerZero paves the way for the first omnichain applications, opening the door for lending, automated market makers, governance, and much more to become truly chain-agnostic,” Kyle Samani, managing partner at Multicoin Capital, said.
Binance Holdings Ltd is the operator of one of the world's largest crypto exchanges and also acquired Indian crypto exchange WazirX.
The exchanges have also jointly launched an India-focused fund to incubate and invest in blockchain projects and startups in the country, with a corpus of $50 million (Rs 370 crore).
In July, Singapore-headquartered crypto platform Vauld raised $25 million (Rs 186 crore approximately) in a Series A round of funding led by Peter Thiel-backed early-stage technology venture capital firm, Valar Ventures.
