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Israeli Blockchain Startup StarkWare Pulls $100M in Funding at $6B Valuation

StarkWare, an Israeli blockchain startup, is on track to close a $100 million funding round, according to details gathered by local media channel, Calcalistech, the capital raise has not been announced yet, and it is expected to push the startup’s valuation to about $6 billion.

With details of the new round still largely obscure, the recent capital raise will trail the firm’s Series C round in which it pulled $50 million from investors led by Sequoia Capital. The partnership also enjoined Founders Fund, Paradigm, Three Arrows, and Alameda Research participation. After its Series C was concluded last year in November, its valuation was pegged at $2 billion, implying multiple growths in valuation should the new target be achieved.

StarkWare occupies a very pivotal position in today’s fast-growing blockchain ecosystem. The startup develops a series of blockchain solutions that are used to power a number of renowned applications in space today. StarkWare’s zero-knowledge proofs are used by platforms, including but not limited to dYdX, Sorare, and Immutable X.

The level of innovation the company is brandishing has earned it its goodwill amongst its investors and backers, one of whom is Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum. Should the Calcalistech projection be actualized, the new funding round should be concluded by May this year.

“As staff, we’re hearing that a deal may be cooking, but we’re not getting a clear sense of details. Nobody will be surprised if there is another big valuation,” an anonymous source at the company said, “It’s surreal. It just looks like another Israeli high-tech office here, but we’re seen in the crypto world as the guys who are bringing about a huge change. There are constantly rumours that this person or such-and-such a fund wants to invest. The company doesn’t need the money, so it has rejected many offers, but if a really attractive deal comes along, it could well be progressing.”

StarkWare was founded in 2018, and it currently employs about 70 staff. Its aggressive capital raise mimics that of Fireblocks, another Israeli blockchain infrastructure provider which pulled $500 million at an $8 billion valuation in January.

Ethereum Layer-2 Protocol Boba Network Values at $1.5B following $45m Funding

Boba Network, an Ethereum-based Layer-2 protocol Optimistic Rollup scaling solution, has successfully completed its Series A funding round in which it pulled as much as $45 million from investors covering every aspect of the Web3.0 world.

The Series A funding brings the platform’s valuation to $1.5 billion and the capital is projected to be used in addressing Ethereum’s computational limitations and foster greater functionality for decentralized applications (dApps) through Boba’s Hybrid Compute platform.

“This fundraising is about building a broad-based alliance to build the Boba ecosystem. Having so many amazing investors demonstrate their confidence in our vision and technology reinforces our belief that what we’re building is important and necessary. Hybrid Compute will scale Web3 development, enabling builders to deliver innovative products with greater functionality,” said Alan Chiu, Boba Network Founder.

Participants in the funding round include DeFi Technologies Inc, Hypersphere Infinite Capital, Hack VC, GBV, Sanctor Capital, Shima Capital, Kinetic Capital, Ghaf Capital, LD Capital, Old Fashion Research, Alphanonce, IOST, and ROK Capital. Other notable investors include the Dreamers VC (Will Smith and Keisuke Honda), M13 (Paris Hilton and Carter Reum), Tony Robbins, Joe Montana, and KSHMR amongst others.

While Boba Network’s solutions are somewhat complicated to the layman, they have established a niche of excellence amongst Layer-2 protocols resident on the Ethereum blockchain. With transactions notably faster than what Ethereum offers and fees up to 60x lesser, Boba Network has continued to stay relevant in the ecosystem.

Boba Network’s funding is just one of the major backing a Layer-2 protocol will be receiving from investors in recent times as many pundits consider the solutions these protocols bring as the key ingredient in ushering in the next 1 billion users into the crypto ecosystem. Other prominent startups have received funding as documented by Blockchain.News in recent times includes StarkWare and Aptos among others.

StarkWare Valued $8bn in New $100m Funding Round

StarkWare, an Ethereum-based Layer-2 protocol, has raised $100 million in a Series D funding round to bring its valuation to $8 billion.

The latest funding round, which succeeds the $100 million Series C round that valued it at around $2 billion about 6 months ago, was led by Greenoaks Capital and Coatue. The Series D also saw participation from Tiger Global, but the remaining investors remain undisclosed.

According to the protocols co-founder and President Eli Ben-Sasson, the funding round was closed just at the time when the LUNA and UST crash was just making the rounds. Amidst the turmoil the industry has faced in recent times, the backing of StarkWare is evident that investors are typically concerned about long-term builders, other than quick gains.

“To a large extent, this valuation is a boat of confidence of this larger ecosystem,” Ben-Sasson said. “We’re part of this greater [layer 2] ecosystem alongside Arbitrum, Optimism, Solana, Polygon, and a bunch of others doing amazing work that we’re very enthusiastic about.”

To date, StarkWare has raised a total of $260 million. Its primary focus is to inject additional funds into developing its product while also increasing the staff number to achieve this goal. StarkWare introduces a new protocol that compresses data before sending them to the Ethereum blockchain.

It primarily helps in cutting transaction costs and processing time with its feature. The pivotal role StarkWare is playing as a layer-2 protocol on the Ethereum blockchain has resulted in over $500 billion in transactions facilitated by StarkEx since its inception back in 2017. The drivers of the protocol believe there is more work ahead, and they are glad to have the backing of some of the industry’s best venture capital firms. The funding round was first teased by Calcalistech back in March, as reported by Blockchain.News at the time.