StarkWare, an Ethereum scaling project, has raised $100 million in Series A funding at a value of $8 billion. StarkWare CEO Urikolodny said that the project plans to expand its ecosystem. StarkWare concluded the round last week despite the market sentiment being sour by the Terra blockchain. StarkWare is an Ethereum scaling startup that uses ZK-rollup technology. It has quadrupled the company’s valuation to $8Billion after raising $100M in a Series D round of funding.
Greenoaks Capital, Coatue and StarkWare led the round. StarkWare, an Israeli-based company, announced Wednesday. The round was also supported by existing and new investors, such as Tiger Global. StarkWare employees could also sell shares because of the secondary component.
StarkWare’s value has risen sharply over the past six months despite the recent slump in sentiment after the Terra blockchain’s crash. The firm was valued last November at $2 billion after it raised $50 million in Series C financing. Calcalist, an Israeli newspaper reported in March that StarkWare was looking to raise at most $100 million at a $6-billion valuation.
StarkWare CEO Uri Kolodny, co-founder of StarkWare, told The Block that the valuation jump was due to both investor and developer communities realizing StarkWare’s “most comprehensive, most powerful and battle-tested solution to scale blockchain” and that StarkWare has triggered a lot of interest in StarkWare. “
StarkWare concluded the round last week following Terra’s dramatic unwind .
StarkWare scaling
StarkWare was founded in 2017 and offers two products: StarkEx, and StarkNet. StarkEx is a customized, permissioned Ethereum scaling engine. StarkNet is a permissionless, decentralized ZK-rollup that allows for independent deployment of smart contract. The goal of Ethereum scaling networks is to increase transaction volume and lower gas fees.
StarkWare technology is used in several crypto projects, including dYdX and Sorare. Kolodny stated that the company plans to expand its ecosystem by securing additional funding.
Kolodny stated that this round would allow him to increase his efforts in product development, engineering, and business development as well as grow StarkEx’s ecosystem around StarkNet.
Kolodny stated that StarkWare plans to hire “dozens” more people this year.
StarkWare has now raised $262 million in Series D funding. Kolodny did not respond to a question about StarkWare’s plans to launch a native token.
