Aptos Raises $150M in Series A Led by FTX Ventures

Blockchain startup Aptos has raised $150 million in a Series A funding round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto [1, 3]. The investment brings the company's total funding raised in 2022 to $350 million and values the firm at $2 billion [3]. Aptos plans to use the capital to develop its Layer-1 blockchain and expand into sectors such as gaming, media, and finance [1, 2].

Key takeaways

• Aptos raised $150 million in a Series A round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto [1, 3].
• The funding values the company at $2 billion and brings its 2022 total to $350 million [3].
• The project was founded by former Meta employees who worked on the Diem blockchain [2, 3].
• Aptos claims its mainnet is slated for launch in September 2022 [3].

Funding details and investor lineup

The latest round included new investors such as Griffin Gaming Partners, Franklin Templeton, Circle Ventures, and Superscrypt, alongside existing backers a16z and Multicoin Capital [1, 2]. This follows a previous funding round in March where Aptos secured $200 million led by a16z, with participation from Tiger Global and the now-bankrupt Three Arrows Capital [1]. FTX Ventures partner Ramnik Arora stated that for blockchain technology to reach the next billion users, the industry must prioritize scalability, safety, and ease of use [2, 3].

Origins and technical development

Founded by former Meta employees Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, Aptos was established to revive the technology developed for the Diem project after Meta halted its development due to regulatory resistance [2, 3]. The team is building a Layer-1 blockchain using the Move programming language, aiming to solve issues like outages and downtime that CEO Mo Shaikh claims make current blockchains unfit for mass adoption [2, 3]. Since its inception, the project has reportedly reached 20,000 operational nodes on its testnet and is currently in the second phase of its incentivized testnet [1, 3].

Why it matters

The funding arrives during a period described as a slump in crypto trade activities, signaling continued investor interest in infrastructure projects [1]. Aptos claims its mainnet is slated for launch in September 2022, with the goal of providing a scalable and reliable foundation for Web3 applications [3]. The project has also secured partnerships with Google and other entities building with its Move tools [3].