Cross-chain messaging protocol developer LayerZero Labs has raised an additional $120 million, according to an April 4 announcement. The company plans to use the funds to increase headcount and expand operations into the Asia-Pacific region. The company had previously raised $135 million in March 2022.
LayerZero Labs is best known for its cross-chain messaging protocol, LayerZero, which is often used to create bridges of assets between blockchain networks. It is also a supporter of the Stargate multi-chain bridge. With this funding round, the company is now valued at $3 billion. More than 33 investors participated in the latest round, including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, BOND, Circle Ventures, Christie’s, OpenSea Ventures, and Samsung Next.
LayerZero Labs co-founder and CTO Ryan Zarick said the new fundraiser will help create a multi-chain environment where applications can take advantage of the unique strengths of each network:
"Imagine a future where a single user-facing application can leverage the speed of Solana, the security of Ethereum, and the cheap file storage of Arweave, all while also being completely abstracted to the user."
He continued: “This is our vision, realized through the LayerZero protocol, which seamlessly connects all blockchains and enables building chain-agnostic applications across various blockchains to create a best-in-class user experience. Select The days of a single chain as a building block are over; the future is full-chain applications."
The issue of securing cross-chain messages has become acute in recent years as more than $3 billion will be stolen from blockchain bridges in 2022, according to a Chainanalysis report. LayerZero attempts to solve this problem by securing messages using relayers and oracles, where messages are only confirmed if both relayers and oracles agree that the message is valid. On January 31, LayerZero became Uniswap's Ethereum and BNB Chain cross-chain governance bridging protocol with 37.58% of the votes, ranking second only to Wormhole. On March 30, Gnosis announced that LayerZero would be integrating with its multi-bridge platform Hashi to further improve the security of blockchain bridges.
