Polygon, the leading layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, has announced it recently secured $450 million of funding in its Series B round. The investors included Andreessen Horowitz, Matrix Partners, Metastable Capital, Pantera Capital and other venture capital firms based in the US, China and Korea. This brings the total raise for the company to date up to $515 million.
The funds will be used by Polygon to enhance existing infrastructure solutions and accelerate blockchain adoption. It is also set to continue helping developers and businesses build better applications on Ethereum by increasing scalability while decreasing costs and increasing speed of transactions. Additionally, Polygon will develop new features such as better mobile support, financial primitives like DeFi solutions, and increased privacy features with delegated zk-Rollups (zk-sync).
Background
Polygon, previously known as Matic Network, is a Layer 2 scaling solution built on top of Ethereum and focused on scalability, privacy, and usability in the blockchain space.
On June 23, Polygon announced that it had successfully closed a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India, where it raised an impressive $450 million to further grow the company and expand its reach.
Overview of Polygon
Polygon (formerly Matic Network) is a Layer 2 scaling solution built on Ethereum to resolve the high transaction fees and slow transaction confirmations plaguing blockchain applications. Developed by serial entrepreneurs Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal and Anurag Arjun, Polygon helps developers to create their networks without having to build from scratch and provides an all-in-one “box” of tools for makers to easily spin up their blockchains.
The founders of Polygon bring extensive credentials in the field, both from the tech development and business sides. Jaynti is a talented tech architect with over 18 years experience in building large distributed systems. Sandeep is an angel investor, cyber security specialist and serial entrepreneur. Anurag has 8+ years of experience in product strategy, engineering almost exclusively on virtual reality VR technologies before finding his way into blockchain.
However, it was not until October 2020 that Polygon began gaining serious traction in the DeFi space after raising $450 million during its Series A funding round led by top venture capital investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs and Framework Ventures as well as some prominent angels like A16z crypto – all investing to catapult Polygon towards becoming a go-to layer two scaling framework for Ethereum based applications. This raised capital will expand their network infrastructure into sidechains for additional scalability beyond what security deposits can offer *and* increase international visibility with additional marketing, talent acquisition, etc., thereby striving for mass adoption of decentralized finance protocols on Ethereum(ETH).
Previous Funding Rounds
Polygon has raised $450 million in funding from numerous investors, including USDT, Mursion, Inc., Polychain Capital. This latest round doubles the total capital previously raised by the company, bringing its total funding to over $450 million since its launch in 2017.
This latest capital will fuel Polygon’s growth and expansion into new markets and regions. The money will help Polygon develop its Layer-2 scaling solutions for Ethereum with plans across payment gateways, exchanges and wallets. Additionally, the funds will support platform-level improvements such as better privacy measures and scalability applications that offer faster transactions and lower costs.
Polygon’s first venture funding round came in late 2017 when USDT provided $100 million giving the company a valuation of around $200 million just two years after its launch. Following that initial financing round, Polychain Capital invested an additional multi-million dollar amount in what is now referred to as Series B funding round. Finally, in 2020, Pantera Capital led another Series B+ strategic investment worth nearly $170 million, putting Polygon’s total funding at around $350 million.
The current Series C financing of an additional $100 Million brings the company’s total funding to over half a billion dollars since their launch four years ago (2017).
Polygon Raises $450 Million in Funding Round led by Sequoia Capital India
Polygon recently raised $450 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India. In addition, the funding round included investments by Coatue Management, Cree, Binance, and other strategic institutions. This brings Polygon’s total funding to date to $805 million.
The funding will accelerate Polygon’s development of a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum and other Web3 related products and investments.
Let’s dive into the details of this recent funding round.
Details of the Funding Round
Polygon (formerly Matic Network), the layer-two scaling technology solution, has completed its Series C round of funding for $102 million led by Coatue, a US-based venture capital firm. Coatue was joined in the round by several existing and new partners worldwide – namely Flipside Crypto, USV, Greenoaks Capital, Binance Labs, Daiwa PI Partners CBD Capital, Consensus Lab and BlockTower Ventures.
Including the $102 million raised during this latest funding round and other subsequent direct investments from existing partners since it began fundraising in 2017, Polygon has raised a total of $450 million. This substantial capital will grow the company’s user base and fuel further development of its soon-to-be launched Polygon (MATIC) mainnet. The funds will also accelerate wallet integrations and partner networks through strategic partnerships with entities such as Binance Smart Chain.
The fresh capital coincides with an increase in public interest around layer-2 solutions in Ethereum — primarily resulting from slow transaction speeds — leading to surges in volume on Polygon network via platforms like Aave that settled over $1 billion on it during April 2021 alone. Having recently launched MetaTransaction support and L2 versions of popular DeFi protocols such as Aavegotchi and PowerPool — which both onboarded over 500 users already — Polygon is now aiming to build India’s next financial infrastructure via tokenization of popular financial asset classes on Polygon network with new products like Prime Trading Framework and Interest Rates Market Framework.
Investors Involved
Polygon recently announced that it has successfully closed a $450 million Series C funding round. The significant investment was co-led by New York-based Coatue, the unicorn company’s current venture investor, and San Francisco-based Tiger Global, one of the most influential investors in the global crypto ecosystem.
This round included active investments from other marquee backers such as DUNE Ventures, Walnut Ventures, Wikibond plus existing venture capital firms Polychain Capital and Pantera Capital. The new funds will help Polygon accelerate product development and potential acquisitions; strengthen its Matic Network across DeFi, NFTs, gaming and CeFi applications and expand its global presence.
Impact of the Funding
The recent funding round of $450 million led by Sequoia Capital India for Polygon will help the company grow in exciting new ways. It will allow Polygon to expand its offerings, take on new projects, and invest in new technologies.
This article will discuss the impact of this funding round on the company and how it can help Polygon further its business goals.
Expansion of Polygon’s Reach
Polygon’s recent funding rounds will allow the company to continue its rapid and expansive growth. The $450 million raised in Series C, Series D, and Series E funding rounds will allow the company to continue developing platforms, creating partnerships and deepening its reach on a global stage. With such a large influx of capital, Polygon is in a prime position to bring their services to a larger market base while expanding their current product offerings.
Additionally, Polygon plans to use the funds not only for expansion but also for strategic operations. Specifically, Polygon’s chief executive officer stated that he plans to use the money for strategic investments, global expansions by adding more personnel and infrastructure, and even research into further development of their unique ethereum-based blockchain.
This vast infusion of capital should strengthen Polygon’s balance sheet and give them the resources necessary to propel their mission forward confidently and quickly.
Increase in Product Development
The $450 million raised by Polygon will give the company the funding it needs to expand their platform, develop innovative products and services, and make strategic investments into the blockchain and cryptocurrency landscape. In addition, this increased financial capacity will allow for substantial growth in product development, allowing Polygon to explore new offerings such as decentralized exchanges, developer tools, oracles, and enterprise solutions.
The additional funds will also go towards efforts to improve existing offerings from Polygon, such as its Layer 2 scaling network solution. This technology has been hard at work helping projects like SushiSwap scale their applications with low transaction times and fees. In addition, the extra funds will be used to acquire talented engineers highly experienced in building infrastructure on layer 1 & 2 networks.
Product development is crucial for any company looking for long-term success in cryptocurrency. With this new influx of money into Polygon, it has a comprehensive roadmap of new products and services to give users an exceptional experience.
Acquisition of Talent
The $450 million recently raised by Polygon will be a major asset to the growth and expansion of the company. But, primarily, it will be used to acquire talent on the engineering and business sides. This is because Polygon’s primary focus is on creating an ecosystem they refer to as a Layer 2 solution – offering technical solutions such as security, scalability, privacy, etc., that could allow mainstream adoption of blockchain technology. Therefore, a comprehensive strategy for recruiting talent with the right skillset is necessary to meet this challenge and effectively create these solutions.
Polygon has indicated that there will be an increased emphasis placed on building a team with dedicated experience in creating Layer 2 Scalable Solutions based on blockchain technology and developing games on blockchain platforms. In addition, increased resources will be dedicated to marketing initiatives such as user acquisition campaigns targeting recent adopters of DeFi protocols & digital assets and providing support for developers creating games on blockchains or decentralized gaming networks like Ethereum & Matic. Furthermore, Polygon has stated their plans involve aggressively recruiting highly specialized individuals from leading names from world-renowned institutions such as universities, research firms & large companies to help build out the team with experienced creators experienced in various areas such as game design & online gambling tech development for mobile & desktop platforms.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this round of funding will allow Polygon to build a stronger infrastructure and take it to the next level in terms of scale, features and services. The company engages with investors worldwide and has ambitious plans for cross-border transactional services. It is becoming increasingly evident that the blockchain technology has massive potential, and Polygon Network is positioning itself as an industry leader.
With $450 million raised as part of its Series C funding, there is no doubt that Polygon can reach greater heights within and outside the blockchain ecosystem.
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