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Aligned Layer, a startup touted as a “universal verification layer for ethereum,” confirmed on Sunday, April 14, that it raised $2.6 million in seed funding.
Lemniscap, a seven-year-old company that has backed several companies in the blockchain cryptocurrency space, led the effort. The company previously led the $2.4 million funding round for web3 startup Safary in January.
Bankless Ventures and Paper Ventures are also backing Aligned Layer, along with StarkWare, O(1)Labs and Ingonyama CEO Omer Shlomovits.
Aligned Layer announced the capital increase through social media. See below.
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Aligned Layer is touted as the first ZK Proof decentralized verification layer for ethereum. It is also driven by Own layer – a recovery mechanism that allows eth participants to reallocate their staked eth and liquid stake tokens (LST) to improve the security of other protocols.
Aligned Layer Targets
The company will use the proceeds from the capital raise to expand its operations and accelerate the mainnet launch of Aligned Layer, scheduled for the second quarter of 2024.
As an infrastructure provider, Aligned Layer aims to reduce costs and improve speeds for developers building applications such as L2 or Layer 2 networks.
“Today’s announcement is a testament to our team’s shared dedication to making ethereum the most cost-effective and efficient platform for ZK verification using Eigen Layer,” said Aligned Layer co-founder Roberto José Catalán. ethereum” data-type=”link” data-id=”https://decrypt.co/226447/aligned-layer-raises-2-6m-seed-funding-to-build-the-first-decentralized-zk-proof-verification-layer-for-ethereum” target=”_blank” rel=””>saying in a prepared statement.
The seed round also saw participation from several angel investors, including Sreeram Kannan, Brandon Kase, Daniel Lubarov, DCbuilder, Chainyoda, Weikeng Chen, Sam Benyakoub, Lucas Kozinski, and Peter Fittin (SizeChad). See below.
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“At Aligned Layer, we firmly believe that developers should be able to use the testing system that best suits their needs, without being limited by the settlement layer,” Catalán added.
The funds are expected to give the company enough headroom to execute short-term objectives.
Aligned Layer's funding comes on the heels of a busy week for crypto venture capitalists. New York-based Monad Labs, for example, raised $225 million in funding as part of a round led by Paradigm. Monad is a layer 1 blockchain compatible with the ethereum virtual machine, but can process transactions using the same set of rules faster.
There was also the Mezo layer 2 bitcoin network. The startup raised $21 million in a funding round led by Pantera.
During the first three months of 2024, global investors poured $2.5 billion into cryptocurrency-related startups. according to PitchBook.
However, investors do not seem to be enthusiastic about blockchain-related gaming companies. According to data from DappRadar, the sector secured $288 million in funding for the first quarter of 2024. That's a 57% decrease compared to the previous three-month period.
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