Key Takeaways
- NEAR Protocol raises $150 million in a seed funding round led by Three-Arrows Capital
- The price of NEAR token jumped to a new all-time high of $20.38 on January 14
- NEAR will use the fund to drive Web3 technology adoption across the globe
Proof-of-stake blockchain NEAR Protocol raises $150 million in a seed funding round. The new funding builds on the $65.9 million raised by the project so far.
What Is NEAR Protocol (NEAR)?
NEAR Protocol is a layer-one blockchain that was designed as a community-run cloud computing platform and that eliminates some of the limitations that have been bogging competing blockchains, such as low transaction speeds, low throughput and poor interoperability. This provides the ideal environment for DApps and creates a developer and user-friendly platform.
NEAR Latest Funding was led by Three-Arrows Capital
The latest funding round was led by Three-Arrows Capital with participation from several crypto-native funds including Mechanism Capital, Dragonfly Capital, a16z, Jump, Alameda, Zee Prime, Folius, Amber Group, 6th Man Ventures, Circle Ventures, and MetaWeb.vc — the NEAR ecosystem fund.
The round also included several top angels including Alan Howard, Santiago Santos and Aave Founder Stani Kulechov cementing NEAR’s reputation among industry leaders as a fast-growing blockchain that combines simplicity, scalability and security.
“We are excited to support the NEAR team and ecosystem as they scale blockchain applications,” states Kyle from Three-Arrows Capital.
“With multichain interoperability of Rainbow Bridge, Aurora (EVM), Octopus (Substrate), and NEAR native’s Nightshade sharding technology, NEAR is best suited for empowering blockchain applications for mainstream adoption,” states Amos Zhang, founder of MetaWeb.vc.
Near Protocol Fueling Decentralization
Near intends to use new capital to drive Web3 technology adoption through ecosystem funding, developing NEAR’s regional hubs and raising awareness for the brand, the projects building on NEAR and its global community to new audiences.
NEAR said that it has already established communities in Asia, Africa and Europe, and is looking to help support emerging communities in Latin America, Turkey and India.
Marieke Flament, NEAR Foundation’s CEO, said:
“We are delighted to have such a fantastic list of backers supporting NEAR’s mission. We are looking forward to leveraging the funding to improve access to blockchain technology in an ever growing list of countries across the world.”
NEAR Protocol has a proven track record of supporting its fast-growing ecosystem. In 2021, it allocated $800 million (now valued at $1.8 billion) — the largest of any layer 1 blockchain — to help fuel its mission to decentralize the community and help users reimagine finance, creativity, and identity in new and inclusive ways.
As part of that allocation, Proximity Labs, a research and development firm targeting the NEAR ecosystem, created a $350 million grants DAO (now valued at $800 million) aimed at projects, organizations, and individuals building decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on the NEAR blockchain.
The blockchain startup said in a blog post that NEAR network has processed more than 70 million transactions since its mainnet launch in Q4 2020, and now supports over 2.3 million accounts. It has 200,000 community members, 1,700 actively monthly builders and more than 100 guilds. It also became the first truly sharded blockchain, in Q4 2021, running with four shards on mainnet, with further upgrades scheduled for 2022.
NEAR is now backed by top VCs such as DCG, A16Z, Pantera Capital, Electric Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain.com, and Baidu Ventures.
NEAR Token hits a new all-time high
Supported by the funding news, the price of NEAR token jumped to a new all-time high of $20.38 on January 14, according to CoinMarketCap.
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