U.S.-based p0x Labs, the developer of the layer-1 zero-knowledge (ZK) blockchain Manta Network, has secured a US$25 million Series A funding round for Manta Network’s expansion in Asia.
See related article: Solving the privacy issues of the financial system with Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Fast facts
- “The funds raised will be used to scale the project’s network, user base and use cases for Manta Pacific, and will support the expansion in the key Asia markets,” said p0x Labs in the announcement.
- The Series A funding values p0x Labs at US$500 million, according to the company.
- The announcement comes as Asian markets seek to attract Web3 industry investments, with economies including Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea all ramping up initiatives related to digital assets and blockchain technologies.
- The fundraising was led by U.S. investment firm Polychain Capital and Chinese venture capital firm Qiming Venture Partners. Other backers included Alliance, CoinFund, and SevenX Ventures.
- Qiming Venture Partners manages 11 US-dollar funds and seven RMB funds with a total of US$9.4 billion in capital raised. Its portfolio firms include Chinese tech majors such as Xiaomi, Meituan and Bilibili.
- Manta Network also on Wednesday launched the testnet of Manta Pacific, an Ethereum-based layer-2 solution to provide toolkits for ZK application developers.
- ZK technology is a cryptographic verification method that prevents exposure of underlying data to offer users more security and privacy. Polygon, the Ethereum layer 2 scaling network, launched the beta mainnet of its own Ethereum ZK solution in March.
See related article: Hong Kong? Singapore? Tokyo? Seoul? Dubai? The race is on for the Web3 hub of Asia | Part 1
