- The financing will bring in $350 million
- Avalanche’s network is growing in popularity among developers
According to sources familiar with the matter, Ava Labs Inc., the lead developer of the Avalanche blockchain, is in the process of raising a second round of funding. According to the new valuation, it would rank among the world’s most highly valued crypto startups.
According to one of the people who spoke on condition of anonymity because the funding has not been made public, the company is raising $350 million at a valuation of $5.25 billion.
In order to compete with Ethereum and Solana, Avalanche offers high speeds and low transaction fees for applications ranging from lending and gaming. As a result, users and developers flocked to the Avalanche Summit in Barcelona in March to learn more about it. DappRadar reports almost 250 active apps running on Avalanche, many of them in decentralized finance or gaming. According to CoinMarketCap.com, AVAX has a $21.5 billion market cap and its price has risen about 19% over the past month.
While markets remain choppy, Ava Labs is raising money while Bitcoin has fallen from its all-time high of November amid concerns over Fed tightening, inflation, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Two private equity firms, Polychain Capital and Three Arrows Capital, facilitated a $230 million round of funding in the Avalanche public blockchain ecosystem through a token sale benefiting the Avalanche Foundation last year. Ava Labs raised $12 million for the project in 2020 through a private token sale led by Bitmain, Galaxy Digital, and others.
Ava Labs was founded in 2018 by Cornell University professor Emin Gun Sirer, and raised $6 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain. According to PitchBook, the company has 170 employees.