Ava Labs Raising $350 Million in New Funding Round

Avalanche developer, Ava Labs Inc. is seeking additional investment of up to $350 million in a new funding round. Bloomberg reported the development on Thursday morning. There are suggestions the funds could make Ava Labs one of the richest cryptocurrency startups in the world with a $5.25 billion valuation.

Despite the relative downturn of the crypto market, Ava Labs is confident it can raise the funds. This is perhaps because of its function. Ava Labs developed the Avalanche ecosystem to offset the lapses observed with the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks. It’s not only a faster and cheaper alternative, but it is also eco-friendlier.

Data from Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute suggests that Avalanche uses the equivalent energy of just 46 US households annually. Compared to Ethereum which uses the energy of up to 1.6 million US households, this is a vast improvement. Likewise, within 4 years of its establishment, the firm has grown from 10 employees to about 170.

Previously, Ava Labs organized two funding rounds. After its establishment in 2018, the company raised $6 million in a funding round that included Andreessen Horowitz. Subsequently, it raised $12 million in a private funding round in 2020. The most recent funding round was in 2021. Last year, the crypto firm raised $230 million in a funding round led by Three Arrows Capital and Polychain.

Ava Labs Adoption Spree

Avalanche’s earliest adopters were from the decentralized finance and gaming industries and they continue to be the highest according to data from DappRadar. The data suggests there are about 250 apps on the blockchain. Avalanche has seen a surge in adoption with many users and developers flocking to its March summit held in Barcelona.

Just last year, Deloitte struck a deal with Ava Labs to launch an Avalanche-based platform. The platform will help fast-track the deployment of FEMA funds during natural disasters. Also last year, Ava Labs partnered with Mastercard to bring ‘the benefits of blockchain to regular customers’.

With the growth of Avalanche’s ecosystem, there has come the growth of its native token AVAX. Just last week, Luna announced plans to buy $100 million worth of AVAX for its reserve. Currently, the token has a market capitalization of $21.5 billion market cap and its price is up about 19% over the past month. At the time of writing, the coin was trading at $80.59  according to CoinMarketCap.com