Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_62e86f3fa094d" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Oracle, the world&#8217;s third largest software company by revenue, has tapped infrastructure provider InfStones to compliment its blockchain suite of offerings</li>
 <li>It comes as major tech firms implementing blockchain face profitability headaches amid rising inflation</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Oracle, one of the world&#8217;s largest software companies, has teamed up with a budding blockchain infrastructure provider to deliver a scalable Web3 infrastructure development platform for their shared enterprise customers.



Provider InfStones said Tuesday it has teamed up with Oracle in a bid to accelerate the new iteration of the internet.



While Oracle is no stranger to blockchain — having unveiled its enterprise-grade blockchain platform&nbsp;back in July 2018 — its collaboration with InfStones represents a growing trend in Web3 infrastructure development.



Despite that trend, large tech firms adopting blockchain-related technology, such as Google, Meta and Microsoft, could be facing profitability headaches amid mountain inflation, according to an analysis by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierpaz/2022/05/12/the-worlds-largest-tech-companies-embracing-blockchain-face-a-valuation-reckoning/?sh=29c3ea26fe8e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forbes</a> in May.



Oracle said the combination of its platforms running atop Oracle&#8217;s Cloud Infrastructure will reduce barriers to entry for new companies looking to incorporate distributed ledgers into their stacks.



Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure also offer &#8220;Blockchain-as-a-Service&#8221; platforms. These allow companies to run tailored permissioned (private) blockchain networks hosted by the tech giants.



“Partnering with Oracle Cloud&nbsp;Infrastructure offers enterprise customers a robust cloud infrastructure across OCI&#8217;s multiple regions worldwide,&#8221; InfStones&#8217; CEO Zhenwu Shi said in a statement.



Oracle said it will work with InfStones to bring its enterprise blockchain customers to more verticals and builders across the Web3 development ecosystem. Shi previously <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhenwu-shi-32a1376b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">worked</a> as a senior software engineer at Oracle. 



Established in&nbsp;2018 as a staking and infrastructure platform providing services to institutional clients, InfStones has since grown to include a node management platform for users alongside an integrated API offering, allowing developers to build applications on blockchain networks such as Polygon, Solana and Chainlink.



InfStones, headquartered in North Texas, counts crypto-native clients including Binance, Circle and Compound. The firm <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/01/softbank-co-led-66-million-round-for-blockchain-focused-infstones/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">closed</a> a $66 million funding in June co-led by SoftBank, and <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/technology/2022/06/01/plano-crypto-company-infstones-near-unicorn-status-after-66-million-funding-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> the round valued it at nearly $1 billion.



“The power of the InfStones platform and Oracle&#8217;s next-generation cloud infrastructure provides our joint customers with an extremely performant, reliable and secure platform for developing decentralized Web3 applications,” said Chris Gandolfo, senior vice president of cloud venture, Oracle.&nbsp;



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Software Giant Oracle Teams With InfStones for Web3 Development

<div id="highlights-block_6296b90c9be0f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and GV Capital, the investment arm of Google parent Alphabet Inc.</li>
 <li>The extended round follows its Series B in February in which it managed to pick up a further $33 million in fresh capital</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain infrastructure provider InfStones said it has edged closer to “unicorn status” with this latest funding round of an extended Series B, which saw the firm pick up a further $66 million.



The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 — one of the world&#8217;s largest technology-focused investment funds — and GV Capital, the investment arm of Google parent Alphabet Inc.



Participation in the round also came via venture capital firms INCE Capital and SNZ Holding as well as venture funds 10T Fund and A&amp;T Capital. A representative from InfStones was not immediately available for comment on its post-money company valuation to date.



The fresh injection of capital will be used for enterprise-wide expansion and to accelerate growth, according to a company statement shared with Blockworks on Wednesday. That includes growing the firm&#8217;s team and its offerings, an expansion into new markets, and acquisition efforts.



“Our vision is to provide a rugged, easy-to-use Web3 environment to build a more transparent, intelligent world,” InfStones CEO Zhenwu Shi said in the statement. “We intend to drive rapid adoption of Web3 decentralized applications worldwide.”



InfStones&#8217; latest raise follows on from its Series B raise in February in which the firm managed to pick up $33 million to further develop its platform. The company also had a $10 million Series A raise in August of last year, bringing InfStones&#8217; total funding to roughly $109 million to date.



InfStones was founded in 2018 as a staking and infrastructure platform, providing services to institutional clients.



The company dubs itself as a &#8220;Platform-as-a-Service,&#8221; supplying blockchain infrastructure to Web3 innovators while boasting support to over 10,000 nodes on a &#8220;rapidly growing&#8221; list of blockchains including Ethereum, Chainlink, Polkadot, Cardano and Solana.



“InfStones provides the foundational infrastructure layer for the Web3 era, offering an enterprise-grade node management and staking platform that makes it painless for customers to participate in Web3 and DeFi,” Dennis Chang, managing partner at Softbank Investment Advisers, said.



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Blockchain Infrastructure Provider InfStones Nabs $66M in Extended Funding Round

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_6217a432fd94b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>InfStones supports nodes on over 50 chains including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Polkadot, Cardano and Chainlink</li>
 <li>The platform’s customers include Binance, Dune Analytics, Polygon, Circle and Compound</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain infrastructure provider InfStones closed a $33 million Series B round to further develop its platform, Zhenwu Shi, founder and CEO of the firm, said to Blockworks.



The round included investors from Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Dragonfly Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, DHVC, A&amp;T and Value Internet Fund.&nbsp;



The company previously raised $12 million in its seed round and Series A, bringing its total funding to $45 million. Shi declined to disclose a valuation.



With the new funding, the company plans to triple its team from 30 to 90 employees over the next year and expand support to over 100 chains and protocols.



InfStones was founded in 2018 and is a staking and infrastructure platform that provides services for institutional clients and supports nodes on over 50 chains, including Ethereum, Polygon, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-is-solana-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-ethereum-rival/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Solana</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinshare-launches-new-etps/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Polkadot</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/cardano-polkadot-etps-hit-frankfurt-stock-exchange/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cardano</a> and Chainlink.



“Demand for our infrastructure platform service has been very strong,” Shi said. “InfStones has been profitable from day one.”



The platform’s customers include <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-exchange-binance-receives-200m-stake-in-forbes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/web3-data-firm-dune-analytics-hits-unicorn-status/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dune Analytics</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/polygon-closes-450m-raise-led-by-sequoia-india/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Polygon</a>, Circle and Compound, among others, he noted.



“As Web3 technology and applications grow, data structure and architecture will become more and more decentralized,” Shi said.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“Web3 applications are not intuitively easy to use or develop, so the Web3 ecosystem requires an AWS-like layer solution to increase the speed and growth of Web3 adoption.”</blockquote>



In addition to the capital raise, the provider is launching a new front-end user interface that lets users deploy nodes within minutes, it said. The public application programming interface (API) is available for Ethereum, Neo, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/in-overture-to-decentralization-binance-rebrands-its-blockchain/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BNB Chain</a> — formerly known as Binance Smart Chain, or BSC — and BSC Archival Data. It plans to add support for Cosmos and other chains in the future.



The API will continue to add features that give developers full automation, fast deployment and multi-cloud support, Shi said.&nbsp;



Going forward, the provider will focus on further developing the blockchain platform to become the “preferred AWS of Web3,” Shi said.



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