LayerZero, a blockchain-based messaging platform, has raised $120 million at a $3 billion value

On Tuesday, LayerZero Labs announced the completion of a $120 million Series B financing, increasing the company’s valuation from $1 billion to $3 billion. LayerZero Laboratories is a web3 communications protocol.

This messaging protocol eliminates the need for third-party middlemen for sending messages between blockchains, unlike Web 2.0 messaging applications like WhatsApp and Telegram.

LayerZero Labs CEO and co-founder Bryan Pellegrino told , “It’s pure arbitrary data; it’s like internet-packaged messaging between machines, not like instant messaging.” The transfer of information.

Pellegrino mentioned that in addition to Ethereum, LayerZero also connects over 30 other mainnet blockchains via Aptos and Solana, two non-EVMs.

Decentralized exchanges like PancakeSwap, Sushiswap, Trader Joe’s, and Uniswap all use this technology to operate on the blockchain. The business claims that its platform has processed $6 billion in transactions worth over $7 billion in total value frozen.

Pellegrino claimed that “hundreds of thousands of unique users” have adopted the protocol since it was introduced a year ago.

According to Pellegrino, the protocol took 7.5 months to reach 1 million messages, and another 2.5 months to reach 2 million messages. In contrast, “all else” is changing quickly. I have no doubt that we will see single months, if not single weeks, with a million communications before the end of this year.

Pellegrino said the funding round was done for “purely strategic alignment,” implying the company didn’t actually require the additional capital. Thirty-three investors, including a16z crypto, Circle Ventures, Sequoia Capital, OpenSea, Samsung Next, Christie’s, and BOND, took part in the Series B round. He also noted that since the company’s initial $135 million funding round in March 2022, it has successfully raised over $250 million.

Pellegrino explained that the funds would be used to expand the company’s presence in the Asian Pacific region and the gaming industry. “Gaming plays a major role if we want to be that connecting layer,” the author writes.

Pellegrino envisions a future where LayerZero’s messaging protocol and others like it continue to pave the way for applications to assemble ever more sophisticated systems. We’re here to lay the groundwork for developers to make the most impressive systems possible, be it for games, DeFi applications, or anything else.