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LAGOS (CoinChapter.com) — Aptos Labs, a blockchain startup led by former Meta developers, has secured $150 million in a Series A funding round led by FTX ventures and Jump Crypto.
In detail, Aptos announced the successful completion of a funding round to build a Layer1 blockchain in a blog post. In addition to FTX and Jump Crypto, a host of venture capital firms, including Multicoin Capital, participated in the funding.
The round comes four months after the company closed a $200 million investment from Tiger Global, Coinbase, and FTX, among others. Notably, the California-based blockchain platform has secured over $350 million in funding in 2022 despite the bear market.
Meanwhile, Aptos said the funding would be used to develop the “safest and most scalable Layer1 blockchain” world. Aptos CEO Mo Shaikh explained that the company is focused on building a reliable foundation for web3.
“This funding comes at a critical time in our industry. […] We are working with our strategic partners to identify consumer needs, and address them by shipping the most performant and upgradable blockchain technology.”
Aptos said.
The blockchain platform announcement also revealed that the company would use the funding to boost and onboard new users. In addition, it indicated that the platform would identify users’ needs and address them by shipping the most performant/upgradable blockchain technology.
From Diem to Aptos
It is worth noting that Aptos transitioned from Meta’s failed blockchain project Diem. Recall that the tech giant, following strong resistance from regulators, halted the development of the Diem crypto project.
Notably, this led to an eventual sell-off of the project development tools to Silvergate in a $200 million deal. After that, however, Aptos’ co-founders, core developers leading the Diem project, attempted to revive the dying Diem blockchain.
Consequently, hoping to build and improve upon Diem’s work, Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching announced the launch of Aptos with the same group of scientists and researchers. It was developed using Move (a programming language behind Diem).
A project like Solana aims to maximize throughput all on one computing layer rather than scaling through other networks like Ethereum’s Layer 2s (L2s) and Avalanche’s Subnets. The blockchain project seeks to offer highly scalable, safe, decentralized, and affordable solutions to billions of internet users upon launch.
Speaking on the launch, Shaikh said:
“We’re building a blockchain to be the reliable foundation for Web3 that ushers in users from around the world to experience the benefits of decentralization.”
Additionally, the project in March launched its developer testnet, with 20,000 operational nodes running. Moreover, the project is currently in the second phase of its Incentivized Testnet launch.
Crypto Community Reacts
Additionally, Apto’s decision to build a Layer1 blockchain platform has drawn the reaction of some top players in the crypto space. For example, framework Ventures co-founder Vance Spencer posited that it would be difficult for the project to surpass the Solana network.
Furthermore, some crypto personalities also raised concern over the massive amount of funding going into the project. A Twitter user said:
“After raising $200m not long ago, is this amount really necessary? Aptos has raised more in a few months than @StarkWareLtd did in the last four years.”
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that several other large Web3 has also secured finding this year. Notably, Switzerland-based blockchain startup ConsenSys closed a $450 million round in March at over a $7 billion valuation.
In February, India-based Polygon Technology, a scaling platform for the Ethereum Blockchain, closed a $450 million round at a reported $13 billion valuation. Also, San Francisco-based Alchemy raised a $200 million Series C that valued the company at $10.2 billion.
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