Ethereum blockchain-focused startup Taiko Labs closed two investment rounds for a total of $22 million.
🥁🥁🥁
We are thrilled to announce that we have raised $22 million across two funding rounds in our mission to build a decentralized and Ethereum-equivalent (Type 1) ZK-EVM.https://t.co/MTEXkqHv84 pic.twitter.com/gfIQkpzHV6
— Taiko 🥁 (@taikoxyz) June 8, 2023
Sequoia China led the first $10 million fundraiser in the third quarter of 2022, while Generative Ventures led a recent $12 million Series A round.
Other investors include OSG Ventures, GSR and GGV Capital, as well as angels represented by POAP co-founder Patricio Warthalter, Tim Beiko of the Ethereum Foundation, and Anthony Sassano.
Taiko creates an Ethereum scaling solution that is “as close as possible to the design and ideology” of the network. The company described the development as a zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machine of the first type (zkEVM Type 1).
“Our design decisions are to adhere to the specification as closely as possible. EVM and Ethereum itself. Firstly, because we love blockchain and want to expand it, and also because it has the best properties,” said Taiko Labs co-founder Matthew Finestone.
Former project team launched the third version of the testnet, which was called “the next step towards the decentralized equivalent of Ethereum zkEVM.”
According to Taiko co-founder Daniel Wang, the funding will ensure the successful launch of the mainnet. However, he noted that the startup needs more capital to create an investment fund and attract developers to the ecosystem.
Earlier, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called the integration of zkEVM with the main blockchain “necessary and inevitable.” In the long term, the network will use the technology not only for roll-up operations, but also for execution-level validation, he said.
Recall that in March, Polygon developers launched a beta version of the zkEVM mainnet to scale Ethereum.
In the same month, the ConsenSys team made the zkEVM testnet available. The protocol was named Linea.
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