By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
Phantom also revealed that it now has 2 million active users on its platform within six month.
Developers of the Solana Web3 wallet app, Phantom, have announced that they raised $109 million in the second series of funding ed by Paradigm. This elevates the company into a unicorn status with a $1.2 billion valuation.
This new funding round continues Phantom’s mission to expand into other blockchains. Speaking on this development, CEO Brandon Millman revealed that Solana Phantom wallet’s intention was to support the Ethereum network by the end of 2022.
The firm’s first funding round saw it raise $9 million with Andressen Horowitz being the lead investor. For this second round, Paradigm alongside other top crypto investors like Jump Capital, Solana Ventures, Variant, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) helped the firm raise the funds. Cumulatively, the firm has now raised $118 million from investors.
The Phantom wallet also revealed that it now has 2 million active users on its platform within six month. To put this in perspective, ConsenSys’s MetaMask was launched in 2016 and only gained 1 million users by 2020.
Interestingly, the Phantom app has reached different milestones like a stake of over $10 billion while also swapping over $1 billion worth of digital assets alongside 55 million NFTs and app transactions.
Per available information, the newly raised funds would also be used to hire more hands to drive the functionalities of the crypto firm to new heights.
Phantom Goes Mobile
Phantom started as a browser extension in July 2021 but the level of its growth and adoption by the public has pushed the developers of the app to develop a mobile version of the application for their users.
This mobile version would first be available for iPhone users as it is only currently available on iOS. However, plans are already on the way for an android version of the app. This way, it would further promote the use and ease of access for the crypto application.
What the Future Holds
The firm’s CEO has revealed that part of the future plans for the app includes focusing on mobile apps and features that will help to ease the accessibility of future users.
In his words, “We will accelerate the growth of the web3 ecosystem on Solana by bringing a world-class onboarding and DApp discoverability experience for users on mobile.”
The firm would be counting on his experience as a lead at his previous workplace; 0x, an infrastructure for building DEXs, where he was able to deduce some flaws of the Ethereum-centered MetaMask to build a new wallet welcoming to different blockchains.
In one previous interview, he also revealed that the wallet provider could someday launch a native token for its users too.