StarkWare Close To Raising $100 Million At A $6 Billion Valuation

Israel-based Ethereum Layer 2 start-up StarkWare is close to closing a significant funding round. The round sees the company valued at $6 billion. StarkWare uses ZK rollup technology to help it scale, addressing various issues on the Ethereum blockchain. 

However, more details about the funding round or the investors remain sketchy at this point. 

Details Of The Latest Funding Round 

The story was first broken by Israeli newspaper Calcalist, which reported the news on Thursday, stating that StarkWare is in the midst of raising $100 million, at a valuation of $6 billion. However, the report failed to provide a source for the information, nor did it provide any clues towards hinting at who would be investing in the Layer 2 start-up. 

The latest funding round, which is still ongoing, comes hot on the heels of a recently concluded Series C funding round which saw StarkWare raise $50 million at a valuation of $2 billion. 

Company Insider Spills The Beans? 

A company insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity, shared a few details regarding the developments, stating that there is “something going on” and that there was a growing change in perception as to how the company’s products were viewed. 

“Things move so fast here, so while I’d normally dismiss talk of tripling the valuation after three or four months, it’s quite possible. I don’t know exactly what’s happening, but there’s a sense that something is cooking. The team is definitely on a high, feeling that its products are less viewed as possible fixes for blockchain scaling and more as the ones that are going to win out.”

The source further added, 

“We have not been told of a new round but know there are offers of investment all the time. The public is excited about crypto, and venture capital realises that blockchain isn’t ready to meet demand. So when a solution comes along that can scale blockchain for wider use and proves itself with a bespoke product for companies, it’s attractive.”

Series C Funding Round

StarkWare’s Series C funding, which had just concluded three months prior, was led by Sequoia Capital. The funding round also saw participation from Three Arrows Capital, Paradigm, Alameda Research, and a few others. At the time of the funding round, CEO and co-founder Uri Kolodny had stated that StarkWare would raise more funding in the future if required. 

More About StarkWare 

StarkWare was founded in 2017 and is the company behind StarkNet and StarkEx. StarkEx is a permissioned Ethereum scaling engine, and StarkNet is a decentralized, permissionless ZK-rollup network. Using StarkNet, developers can easily build decentralized applications on networks such as Ethereum. Scaling networks such as StarkNet are gaining prominence thanks to their role in reducing gas fees. 

StarkNet’s Partnership With Alchemy 

StarkNet has also recently announced a partnership with Alchemy, a move that will see the scaling solution leverage Alchemy’s Proprietary Platform Infrastructure technology suite and attract developers to build on the chain. 

The crypto space has seen a funding spree lately, with the first two months of 2022 has seen significant funding for new start-ups in the crypto space. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.