Boba Network, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, announced that it has secured $45M in a Series A funding round from 400 participants, at a valuation of $1.5B.
The round saw participation from crypto exchanges such as Crypto.com, Huobi, and BitMart, as well as successful crypto funds such as Hypersphere, Infinite Capital, Hack VC, GBV, Alliance DAO, The Venture City, Sanctor Capital, Shima Capital, DeFi Tech, 10X Capital, TRGC, D1, Portal, Genblock, Rarestone, and Kosmos.
Investors with strong regional networks like Kinetic Capital, Ghaf Capital, LD Capital, Old Fashion Research (led by ex-Binance CFO), Krypital, Alphanonce, IOST, ROK Capital, and RedlineDAO also participated.
Other notable investors include the Dreamers VC (Will Smith and Keisuke Honda), M13 (Paris Hilton and Carter Reum), Tony Robbins, Joe Montana, and KSHMR.
Additional participants include founders of industry stalwarts Quantstamp, Origin Protocol, The Graph, Fractional Art, Highstreet, Hanbitco, ANKR, UMA, Nillion, deBridge, FEI Labs, DoinGud, Utopia Labs, and Sense Protocol.
How will the funding be used?
The raise will allow Boba to accelerate the next phase of its strategic growth plan, with a heavy focus on development, scaling the Boba team, and building the ecosystem through developer programs such as the Boba Accelerator, grants, and investments.
Beyond bootstrapping Boba’s development, the raise will enable the protocol to tap into the combined expertise of some of the biggest names in Web3 and beyond.
Alan Chiu, Boba Network Founder, says, “This fundraise 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.”
Faster and more affordable experience
Developed by OMG Foundation core contributor Enya, Boba aims to deliver a faster and more affordable experience for the next billion Ethereum users headlined by their hybrid compute platform combining the power of Web2 and Web3.
Founded by Alan Chiu, Boba Network’s hybrid compute platform built on an optimistic rollup architecture, helps developers build more feature-rich dapps by enabling smart contracts to leverage complex off-chain computations or bring in off-chain data.
The company offers one of the easiest to use blockchain platforms for end-users through their multi-token on-ramp, fast exit, and NFT bridge.
Notably, Boba is also responsible for creating one of the first bridges to ferry non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from layer-2 blockchains to Ethereum’s layer-1 and vice versa.
Generally, when NFTs are minted on a layer-2 blockchain, they remain tied to that particular protocol. Boba’s NFT bridge allows NFTs to be moved and traded throughout the Ethereum ecosystem, expanding NFT liquidity.
Bobby Bao, Managing Director of Crypto.com Capital, said: “Layer 2 innovations are among the most exciting products being developed in the crypto space today, none more so than Boba Network. Boba is developing industry-leading solutions such as Hybrid Compute to scale Web3, so we’re thrilled to be on board.”
