As a “universal verification layer for Ethereum,” Aligned Layer is a startup that announced on Sunday, April 14, that it has raised $2.6 million in seed money.
Leading the initiative was Lemniscap, a seven-year-old company that has funded several businesses in the cryptocurrency blockchain field. Prior to this, the company led the January $2.4 million fundraising round for web3 startup Safary.
Aligned Layer is supported by Bankless Ventures, Paper Ventures, StarkWare, O(1)Labs, and Omer Shlomovits, CEO of Ingonyama.
Aligned Layer used social media to announce the cash raise. View below.
The first decentralized ZK Proof verification layer for Ethereum is billed as Aligned Layer. In order to strengthen security for other protocols, ETH stakers can reallocate their staked ETH and Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) through Eigen Layer, a restaking mechanism.
Goals of the Aligned Layer
The money raised will be used by the business to grow its operations and hasten the mainnet launch of Aligned Layer, which is slated for the second quarter of 2024.
As an infrastructure supplier, Aligned Layer seeks to increase efficiency and reduce expenses for developers creating layer-2, or L2, apps.
Co-founder of Aligned Layer Roberto José Catalán stated, “Today’s announcement is a testament to our team’s shared dedication to making Ethereum the most cost-effective and efficient platform for ZK verification by using Eigen Layer.”
The seed round also included participation from numerous angel investors, including Sreeram Kannan, Brandon Kase, Daniel Lubarov, DCbuilder, Chainyoda, Weikeng Chen, Sam Benyakoub, Lucas Kozinski and Peter Fittin (SizeChad).
“At Aligned Layer, we genuinely think that developers ought to be free to utilize the proof system that best meets their requirements, independent of the settlement layer,” Catalán continued.
The money should provide the business with enough runway to meet its short-term objectives.
The funding for Aligned Layer follows a hectic week for cryptocurrency venture capitalists. One such investment round coordinated by Paradigm included $225 million for New York-based Monad Labs. Though it processes transactions using the same set of rules more quickly, Monad is a layer-1 blockchain that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Mezo was a layer-2 network for Bitcoin as well. The firm raised $21 million in a fundraising round that was led by Pantera.
Global investors invested $2.5 billion in cryptocurrency-related firms in the first three months of 2024, according to PitchBook.
Investors, meanwhile, don’t seem to be getting interested in blockchain-related gaming startups. DappRadar data indicates that $288 million in funding was secured by the industry for the first quarter of 2024. In comparison to the preceding three-month period, that is a 57% decline.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
