• The Series A round values the company at US$1.5bn and assembles the brightest minds in Web3 to unlock Ethereum’s full potential

• Notable co-investors include Crypto.com, M13 and Hypersphere

DeFi Technologies Inc. , a technology company bridging the gap between traditional capital markets and decentralized finance, today announces that it participated in the $45 million Series A raise for Boba Network, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and next-generation Ethereum Layer-2 Optimistic Rollup scaling solution. The Series A raise values the project at US$1.5bn. The funding will address Ethereum’s computational limitations and foster greater functionality for decentralized applications (dApps) through Boba’s Hybrid Compute platform.

The round saw notable participation from successful crypto funds such as Hypersphere Infinite Capital, Hack VC, GBV, Sanctor Capital, and Shima Capital, as well as those with strong regional networks like Kinetic Capital, Ghaf Capital, LD Capital, Old Fashion Research, Alphanonce, IOST, and ROK Capital. Other notable investors include the Dreamers VC (Will Smith and Keisuke Honda), M13 (Paris Hilton and Carter Reum), Tony Robbins, Joe Montana, and KSHMR.

Boba’s Hybrid Compute brings the power of Web2 on-chain for the first time, allowing smart contracts to call any external Web2 API to execute complex algorithms such as machine learning classifiers, pull in real-world or enterprise data in a single atomic transaction, or sync with the latest state of a gaming engine. Leveraging off-chain compute and real-world data, developers and creators can offer an enriched experience unlike anything else on the market today.

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Boba’s Optimistic Rollup technology offers lightning fast transactions and fees up to 60x less than Ethereum, all while maintaining Ethereum’s robust security and decentralization. Boba also offers fast exits backed by community-driven liquidity pools, decreasing the Optimistic Rollup exit period from days to mere minutes while giving liquidity providers incentivized yield farming opportunities.

Alan Chiu, Boba Network Founder, said: “This fundraise is about building a broad-based alliance to build the Boba ecosystem. Having so many amazing investors demonstrate their confidence in our vision and technology reinforces our belief that what we’re building is important and necessary. Hybrid Compute will scale Web3 development, enabling builders to deliver innovative products with greater functionality.”

Boba also created one of the first bridges to ferry non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from layer-2 blockchains to Ethereum’s layer-1 and vice versa. Typically, when NFTs are minted on a layer-2 blockchain, they remain tied to that particular protocol. Boba’s NFT bridge allows NFTs to be moved and traded throughout the Ethereum ecosystem — greatly expanding NFT liquidity.

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Diana Biggs, Chief Strategy Officer of DeFi Technologies, said: “Layer 2s are critical to the scalability and usability of Web3 and the Boba Network is arguably one of the most exciting platforms in the space. To bring these improvements whilst maintaining the security and decentralisation of Ethereum is an incredible achievement and they are only just getting started. We’re thrilled to be backing Boba and look forward to what’s to come!”

Beyond bootstrapping Boba’s development, the raise will enable the protocol to invest in Boba ecosystem projects and tap into the combined expertise of some of the biggest names in Web3. Participating investors share in Boba’s vision of fostering crypto accessibility and liberating developers who have been restricted by Ethereum computational limitations.

Additional participants include founders of industry stalwarts Quantstamp, Origin Protocol, The Graph, Fractional Art, High Street, ANKR, UMA, Nillion, deBridge, FEI Labs, DoinGud, Utopia Labs, and Sense Protocol; along with crypto exchange giants such as Crypto.com, Huobi, and BitMart.

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