Funding News: Offchain Labs Raises $120M, Alpaca Secures $50M

Along with the multi-million dollar Series B funding, both companies are set to expand their crypto-related offerings.

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • OffChain Labs, a developer for Ethereum scaling solutions, opened its mainnet Arbitrum One to the public on Tuesday
  • Stock brokerage platform Alpaca announced plans to offer crypto trading for customers in the future

Alpaca and Offchain Labs secured a combined $170 million in Series B funding, signaling a growing appetite in investor interest for digital asset-based startups.

Offchain Labs, an Ethereum scaling solutions developer, raised $120 million in a Series B funding round, the company announced Tuesday. 

Alongside the funding news, Offchain rolled out its mainnet, referred to as Arbitrum One, to the public. Arbitrum, the technology behind the new product, scales apps to reduce costs and increase capacity. The company will use the funding to expand staff and further develop Arbitrum One through scaling solutions and R&D investments.

Led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, other participants in the round include Alameda Research, Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital, Ribbit Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Mark Cuban and others. Lightspeed’s Ravi Mhatre has joined the company’s board with the fundraising round.

“We are excited to partner with our investors who understand the importance of scaling Ethereum and bringing the Ethereum ecosystem to the masses,” said Steven Goldfeder, co-founder and CEO, of Offchain Labs. “The tremendous support we’ve seen from developers across the globe validates our mission to be the first to marry the world of FinTech and Defi.”

Offchain is now valued at $1.2 billion after the Princeton-founded company raised $20 million in Series A funding in April then later closed their Series B round this month.

Alpaca expands into crypto

Elsewhere, stock brokerage platform Alpaca announced plans to offer crypto trading to customers, the company announced on Monday. In addition, Alpaca scored $50 million in a Series B funding round, led by Tribe Capital.

“Our modern financial system runs on antiquated rails. Alpaca has established itself as the go-to developer-first API for investing by providing an easier, cleaner, and more scalable alternative to what exists today,” said Arjun Sethi, Co-Founder and Partner at Tribe Capital. “Its crypto launch is just the first of many product iterations that will allow global investors to access U.S. markets.”

Alpaca, which currently offers an application programming interface (API) for fintech apps to trade US stocks, said their new crypto product will allow customers to buy, sell, and trade their digital assets through their developer-first APIs. The soon-to-be product will be available to both B2B partners and retail investors. 

Other participants in the Series B round include Eldridge, Horizons Ventures, Positive Sum, Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, and Social Leverage. Prior to their most recent fundraising, Alpaca raised $10 million in Series A capital and $6 million in seed funding.

Offchain Labs and Alpaca did not immediately return Blockworks’ request for comment. 

Continued investments in crypto

Money continues to pour into the digital asset space with venture funding reporting at all-time highs, Blockworks reported.

$17 billion has been invested into crypto projects this year as of mid-June, according to market data firm PitchBook. The previous yearly record was $7.4 billion in 2018.

“We have many data points that show that institutional interest in this space is large and growing still, and venture funding is one really obvious one,” said Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital in a previous interview with Blockworks. “We’ve seen enormous funds raised.”

Want more investor-focused content on digital assets? Join us September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket. Buy it now.

Tags

Upcoming Events

HYATT REGENCY SALT LAKE CITY

TUES, OCT. 8, 2024

Guided by the expertise of Blockworks Research Analysts team, this one day event will feature senior leaders, entrepreneurs, and developers from across the crypto industry. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in an immersive experience to explore the latest trends, […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Pack your bags, anon — we’re heading west! Join us in the beautiful Salt Lake City for the third installment of Permissionless. Come for the alpha, stay for the fresh air. Permissionless III promises unforgettable panels, killer networking opportunities, and mountains […]

recent research

hivemapper.jpeg

Research

We believe crypto market participants overlook Hivemapper’s fundamental potential due to a poor understanding of both the niche map data market and Hivemapper’s positioning relative to incumbents. Hivemapper’s token model catalyzes both a cost and product advantage via unmatched map freshness and near real-time accuracy, which is its wedge into a market characterized by stale data and high data collection costs. Its current and potential future product suite may represent one of the strongest possibilities for PMF in crypto today.

article-image

👨‍⚖️ SBF’s courtroom sequel: Plus, Coinbase’s legal loss was DeFi’s gain

article-image

Public mining companies have been acquiring sites, refreshing machine fleets and diversifying business models in preparation for the event

article-image

Exploit shows centralization can sometimes be an asset

article-image

The Fidelity Ethereum Fund, like other proposed ETH ETFs, seeks to stake a portion of its assets, according to the firm’s Wednesday registration statement

article-image

The DAO first voted on enabling SAFE transfers over a year ago