StarkWare builds technology to scale blockchain so it can be more widely used/Credit Natalie Schor
In less than a year, the valuation of the Israeli startup StarkWare which provides scalability and privacy solutions for blockchain technology has increased fourfold.
StarkWare has raised $100 million at an $8 billion value thanks to the new investment by Greenoaks Capital and Coatue.
Series D fundraising for StarkWare comes six months after Series C funding, which valued the company at $2 billion. Greenoaks Capital and Coatue are leading the latest funding round, which also includes Tiger Global and other new and current investors. As part of the round, there is a secondary transaction in which company-wide personnel sells stocks.
Sequoia Capital led the Series C funding round, which also included investors Founders Fund, Paradigm, Three Arrows, and Alameda Research. Vitalik Buterin, co-creator of Ethereum, is one of the company’s significant shareholders.
The Netanya-based was founded in 2018 by CEO Uri Kolodny, President Eli Ben-Sasson, CFO Michael Riabzev, and Chief Scientist Alessandro Chiesa. The company employs 80 people. Most of them are in Israel.
In the same year of 2018, StarkWare raised $36 million in Series A and $75 million in Series B funding round lead by Paradigm.
StarkWare has developed a novel way for blockchain-based computation that is utilized by some of the world’s most prominent platforms and apps. Initially, clients could only access StarkWare’s technologies through its scaling engine, StarkEx.
However, the company just introduced the StarkNet platform, which allows anybody to create blockchain applications utilizing StarkWare’s technologies.
It reduces transaction fees by decreasing the quantity of data posted to the blockchain. It accelerates transactions by reducing blockchain congestion. And it provides a method for blockchain to expand without compromising its original aim – the math assures that it continues to operate as a network with total integrity.
“This is a vote of confidence for the tech stack we’ve built, which makes blockchain scalable for mass use, and cuts transaction fees incurred by users,” said StarkWare Co-founder and CEO Uri Kolodny.
“The math-based technology we’ve rolled out, known as STARKs, will serve businesses and the crypto community through thick and thin. We’re encouraged that VCs are signaling their strong support, even in the midst of a bear market.”
