LayerZero Labs Closes $135m Series B, Set To Build Omnichain Protocol

LayerZero Labs, an omnichain interoperability protocol that fuses decentralized applications across blockchains, has announced that it just closed a $135 million Series B investment round led by Andreessen Horowitz, FTX Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.

The protocol is still largely under development, but its team envisions it as a way for decentralized applications to seamlessly interconnect and integrate across blockchains with the use of on-chain nodes. With the investment support from Andreessen Horowitz, FTX Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, LayerZero Labs is now valued at roughly $1 billion, pulling in funding from top venture capital firms actively investing in the crypto space. The Series B raise follows its $6 million Series A round in September 2021, with a $2 million seed round in April 2021.

While multi-chain and cross-chain protocols and technologies have been developed and implemented in the crypto industry for at least the last couple of years, LayerZero Labs' proposal of an "omnichain" or a single chain that would serve as an interoperability protocol. Details on this implementation are sparse at the moment, but LayerZero claims that this protocol would effectively "unite" all categories of decentralized applications in one blockchain that would be able to interpret all these layers.

"LayerZero unlocks a future of blockchains without borders. Users will interact with omnichain dApps that exist on multiple blockchains. These dApps will seamlessly communicate over LayerZero without the user even realizing it," shares Ryan Zarick, CTO and co-founder of LayerZero Labs.

This intention is not unique, though, and other crypto projects such as Polkadot and Cosmos are also already working on a similar "Layer 0" (as opposed to Layer 1 or Layer 2 solutions) solution aimed at helping scale and connect blockchain networks.

In technical terms, what LayerZero Labs is aiming at is composability, except this attribute will be applied to the base code of an application launching across blockchains, not just interoperating protocols, creating a more efficient and seamless method for building out decentralized applications from the ground up. This is done by providing applications with a configurable on-chain endpoint while relying on an oracle and a relayer to make a seamless communication between two interacting blockchains.

With the crypto industry continuing to experience high levels of investment and development activity, it's likely that LayerZero's Series B round won't be the last. The company plans to use the funds to continue developing its protocol and building out its team. This ambitious project could very well play a major role in shaping the future of the crypto industry as a whole.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.