The Swiss not-for-profit organization behind the NEAR Protocol, NEAR Foundation, has launched a new modular product suite to form Nuffle Labs, raising $13 million in funding.
NEAR Foundation Launches Nuffle Labs
The NEAR Foundation, a Swiss not-for-profit organization behind the NEAR Protocol, has spun out Nuffle Labs, a new modular product suite, raising $13 million in funding. This move is set to enhance the NEAR ecosystem’s capabilities and drive forward the next generation of high-performance rollups.
Funding Round Details
The funding round was spearheaded by venture capital firm Electric Capital. NEAR Foundation also contributed a grant towards Nuffle Labs, underlining its commitment to fostering innovation within its ecosystem. Other notable participants in the funding round include angel investors such as Dovey Wan from Primitive Ventures and Sandeep Nailwal from Polygon, alongside investments from Canonical Crypto, Fabric Ventures, Robot Ventures, Caladan, Lyrik Ventures, and more.
Utilization of Funds
The NEAR Foundation has outlined plans to utilize the investment to develop the modular infrastructure of Nuffle Labs. This will focus on building the next generation of high-performance rollups and decentralizing innovation within the NEAR ecosystem.
Statements from Key Stakeholders
“We are thrilled about the incredible opportunity to grow and develop NEAR’s modular product offerings at Nuffle Labs,” said Altan Tutar, CEO of Nuffle Labs. “We’re proud to support the growth of Nuffle Labs as an independent company in the NEAR ecosystem,” added Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol and CEO of NEAR Foundation.
“These four excellent co-founders have built first-rate modularity products that showcase the best of NEAR’s technology with NEAR DA and the NEAR Fast Finality Layer, providing cost-effective and performant solutions to projects across Web3. We look forward to continued collaboration with the NEAR Foundation as they expand and evolve,” Polosukhin noted.
VC Funding Surge in 2024
The first quarter of 2024 has witnessed a significant surge in venture capital funding within the Web3, gaming, artificial intelligence, and crypto sectors. This marks a notable recovery from a two-year downtrend. In February, Electric Capital led a seed funding round for the crypto wallet provider Fordefi, raising $10 million to support its expansion into retail platforms.
According to data from crypto analysis platform Crypto Koryo, both the total amount invested and the number of projects receiving VC funding have seen substantial increases since Q4 2023. This trend highlights growing investor confidence and interest in these cutting-edge technologies.
