By
Steve Muchoki
March 28th, 2024
After LayerZero’s beta launch, LayerZero Labs launched a cross-chain liquidity transfer protocol Stargate. The protocol solves the Bridging Trilemma holy grail problem.
LayerZero Labs has generated $135 million in a recent funding round to build out “Omnichain Protocol.” The company announced the achievement in a press release on the 30th of March. In addition to Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the venture capital arm of FTC and Sequoia Capital were co-leaders of the financing round. Other participants included PayPal Ventures, Uniswap Labs, Coinbase Ventures, and more.
LayerZero Labs’ Funding Round
With the newly-generated funds, LayerZero Labs is now at a $1 billion valuation. Additionally, the funds will support the development of cross-chain dApps backed by LayerZero, which is a protocol that connects dApps across multiple blockchains.
Speaking on the financing round, LayerZero Labs CEO and co-founder Bryan Pellegrino said:
“The round is a massive step forward for LayerZero Lab and the unfolding interoperability landscape. We’ve brought some of the best and most well respected entities in the world together to accomplish the same goal: create the generic messaging layer that underpins all interoperability between blockchains.
The alarming expansion of the crypto industry over the past years has sparked a heightened demand for crypto-related developments. Interests have grown for NFT marketplaces, blockchain-based games, and media apps. Despite the increased demand, there is a reduction in support for the cross-chain world. However, LayerZero provides a solution by offering an omnichain interoperability protocol, which integrates decentralized applications blockchains.
LayerZero Launches Stargate
After LayerZero’s beta launch, LayerZero Labs launched a cross-chain liquidity transfer protocol Stargate. The protocol solves the Bridging Trilemma holy grail problem. Stargate also allows cross-chain liquidity transfer in native assets and enables an instant guarantee of finality and unified liquidity. Within ten days of launch, Stargate accrued $3.4 billion in assets. The protocol also sent more than $264 million in transfers through LayerZero, within the same period. With these developments, LayerZero Labs will aim at uniting with Non-EVM blockchains such as Solana and Terra. At the same time, the team will focus on building cross-chain DeFi protocols and decentralized apps backed by LayerZero & Stargate.
Furthermore, Pellegrino will work with the co-founders of LayerZero Labs, Ryan Zarick (CTO) and Caleb Banister (principal engineer). The three executives are skilled engineers, and they will use their abilities towards the development. Before now, the trio had worked together in establishing startups and publishing academic papers.
According to a general partner at a16z, Ali Yahya, “unlocking cross-chain composability” will enable developers to build dApps easily.
“Bryan, Ryan, Caleb and the whole LayerZero team have thoroughly impressed us with their commitment to blockchain interoperability and the elegance of their protocol. We can’t wait to see the app innovation that springs from it,” added Yahya.