Ethereum scaling startup Optimism raises $150 million at $1.65 billion valuation

Optimism, the Ethereum scaling startup, said Thursday that it had raised a $150 million Series B funding round.

The round values the startup, which formed out of a research effort in early 2020, at $1.65 billion, according to a blog post from the team. According to TechCrunch, the round was co-led by Paradigm and Andreessen Horowitz.

Last February, Optimism announced a $25 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Optimism is focused on the development of optimistic rollups, which are scaling layers that aggregate transactions above the base Ethereum layer. The idea is that by aggregating transactions, which are ultimately settled on the Ethereum blockchain, the cost of transacting can be reduced. 

Roughly $480 million in ETH and ERC-20 tokens are locked up on Optimism’s dedicated rollup. There is roughly $5 billion in total locked value across the Ethereum-based optimistic rollups tracked on The Block’s Data Dashboard.